Wrath of Doom
by emb22
Summary: Doom is more determined than ever to rid himself of the thorn in his side that is the Fantastic Four. This time, he has a surprise in store for them. Will good triumph over evil? Pairings include ReedXSue, BenXAlicia, and JohnnyXFrankie
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Fantastic Four is the property of Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel. This is only for entertainment purposes. I am not making any profit by writing this.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 1-Vengeance _

At an undisclosed location in the nation of Latveria, Victor von Doom was working on one of his latest projects—the construction of robot sentinels he called Doombots. He looked at a large portrait of his father, Ziegfried von Doom, hanging up on the wall. Victor's father was the former ruler of Latveria until he met his untimely death as the result of an assassination by an angry constituent. The Latverian government could best be described as a dictatorship, and Ziegfried was a dictator who ruled with an iron fist.

After his father's death, Victor tried his best to clear the von Doom name. Initially, all that most people saw Victor as was Ziegfried von Doom's son. Growing up, Victor had a love-hate relationship with his father. Whenever Victor misbehaved, his father would beat him until Victor begged for forgiveness. Even though he was an entirely different person than his father, a sizeable portion of the Latverian population thought that Victor was no different from Ziegfried. Perhaps it was the whole guilty by association concept.

Victor was but a young man in his early twenties when his father was assassinated. Victor picked up where his father left off and took over as dictator of Latveria. He vowed to the people that his reign would be different than his father's was. Victor went overseas and appointed a prime minister to rule in his absence. The prime minister is a young woman in her late twenties named Lucia von Bardas. She has long jet black hair, stands about five foot seven inches in height, and is quite fit.

Victor went to the Manhattan area of New York City, New York where he quickly achieved great success as the CEO of his own enterprise, Von Doom Industries. It wasn't actually Victor's first time to the United States of America. As a teenager, Victor ran away from home and his father to seek refuge in the U.S.A. He attended MIT along with Reed Richards. After graduating, he returned home to Latveria upon receiving word of his father's assassination.

Latveria is a small nation that borders Hungary, Serbia, and Romania. It has a population of no more than a half a million people. Most importantly though, it is a developing country. The Latverian people were ravaged by hunger. Living conditions were poor. There was no sewage. The water supply wasn't clean. People lived in poorly constructed, rundown shacks. Nobody had access to any medical care as there wasn't even a hospital in Latveria. However, all that changed when Victor von Doom set aside a relatively enormous proportion of his company profit to help out the people of his home country. That is when the Latverians' perspective of Victor von Doom changed. He was no longer seen as Ziegfried's son, but a great humanitarian. To show their appreciation, they constructed a mask made of a metallic alloy and sent it to him.

Back to the present though. Victor von Doom had but one thing on his mind, revenge. For the second time in a row, Victor faced his nemeses, The Fantastic Four, and came up on the short end of the stick. Victor hated Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny with a passion. At the top of his hit list though was Johnny. After all, Johnny had somehow managed to absorb the powers of Reed, Sue, and Ben which resulted in Johnny defeating Dr. Doom. So in spite of the fact that Johnny had the powers of Reed, Sue, and Ben, it was Johnny, not Reed, not Sue, and not Ben that was ultimately responsible for Victor's recent defeat. The mere thought of that made Victor irate. He did not take kindly to having been shown up by some punk kid.

Victor took a step backwards to marvel at his work. Standing before him in several lines was about one hundred Doombots. Victor had an evil grin on his face. Sure the Fantastic Four were able to defeat Doom the past two times they faced off, but that was only because they outnumbered him. This time things would be different. This time it would be the Fantastic Four _not_ Victor who would be outnumbered.

"You are not the only brilliant mind of the twenty-first century _Reed Richards_!" Victor said emphasizing Reed's name with a tone of disgust.

Had it not been for Johnny practically single-handedly defeating Doom in Shanghai, Reed would be at the top of Doom's hit list. Reed had cost Victor so much. His space station fiasco resulted in Von Doom Industries briefly being taken over by Ned Siegel. Not to mention the amount of profit that the company lost as a result. Fortunately for Victor though, he was able to take Ned Siegel out of the equation—permanently. Thus, Victor was once again CEO of his own enterprise. His company was eventually able to get back on solid ground, but his financial contributions to Latveria were few and far between. Also, they were nowhere near the size they once were.

Then there was Sue. Before Victor, Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny first got their powers, Victor was going to propose to Sue up in the space station. Just as Victor was about to utter the four words that could have potentially changed his and Sue's life forever, Reed had to barge in. Now Reed and Sue are married. Now Sue is Sue _Richards_ instead of Sue _von Doom_. Reed ended up getting the girl. Reed ended up with Sue.

Doom strode outside with his legion of Doombots following closely behind. He boarded a small helicopter. He soon took off into the sky towards his destination—the Baxter Building. The Doombots themselves were capable of flight due to them having jet packs in their boots.

A short time later, at the Baxter Building, Captain Frankie Raye got off the elevator at the top floor of the Baxter Building. She was flanked on either side by a male soldier. This was only her second visit to the Baxter Building. Just like the first time she visited, the Fantastic Four's holographic receptionist, Roberta, greeted them from her post at the front desk.

"Mr. or Mrs. Richards will be right with you," Roberta said.

Frankie had to admit to herself that is sounded somewhat odd to hear Sue referred to as 'Mrs. Richards.' After all, she had achieved notoriety as Sue Storm. Frankie didn't think too much more on it though as she, in addition to probably the rest of the world was happy for Reed and Sue. Frankie figured that it would probably just take a little getting used to when it came to Sue being called 'Mrs. Richards.'

"Frankie. Hi. What brings you by?" Sue asked.

"I have something important to discuss with the four of you," Frankie answered.

After orchestrating a meeting in Reed's lab via their earpiece communicators, the Fantastic Four, Frankie, and her soldier companions were soon assembled in Reed's lab. Frankie looked to her side and saw Johnny wag his eyebrows at her. She responded by rolling her eyes. From the messenger bag draped over her shoulder, Frankie pulled out a stack of satellite photos and handed them to Reed.

"Our satellites have spotted Victor and what looks like an army of robots headed our way. Their destination is unclear, but we suspect it is here in New York City," Frankie stated.

Reed thumbed through the satellite photos with Sue at his side and Ben and Johnny looking over their shoulders. Sure enough, the photos depicted Doom and his army of robots leaving Latveria and flying over the Atlantic Ocean.

"What's with the flyin' pieces of scrap metal?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. What are those things?" Sue questioned.

"I don't know." Frankie answered.

Sue, Ben, and Johnny noticed that Reed kept looking at photos of just the robots. He flipped through the photos rather excitedly and had what looked to be almost a hint of a grin on his face. They in turn looked at him with confused expressions on their faces.

"Fascinating. These robots are more advanced than anything I've ever seen before. Isn't it exciting what modern technology is capable of creating today? Whoever programmed these robots must be a genius!" Reed remarked.

Everyone else in the room stared dumbly at Reed. They didn't get what was so interesting about robots that were more than likely servants of Doom. This wasn't the first time Reed had this sort of reaction to something he found intriguing, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Reed was probably one of the most brilliant minds of the twenty-first century, as he told General Hagar, but sometimes understanding Reed seemed like the most difficult thing in the world.

"Yeah, so anyways Frankie, do you know their ETA?" Sue inquired.

"If New York City is indeed their destination, then when taking into account their current velocity, I'd say within four hours," Frankie replied.

"So what exactly do you want us to do until then?" Johnny asked.

"Until then? No, I think you misunderstood me. We want the four of you to intercept them. If we wait until they arrive, countless lives will be in danger," Frankie said.

Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny all had incredulous looks on their faces. They all wondered what exactly Frankie was asking them to do. From the way it sounded, this was practically a suicide mission.

"That's just great. What are you gonna be doin' while we 'intercept' them? Cheerin' us on from the sidelines?" Ben remarked.

"Ben!" Sue exclaimed glaring at him.

"Ben's right. In theory, it's a good plan. However, the Fantasticar doesn't have any weapons. It's strictly for transportation purposes. That would mean that the only one of us who would be capable of 'intercepting' them would be Johnny, and we're not about to send him on a suicide mission," Reed stated.

Sue had never been more aroused by Reed than she was at that moment. It was just like when he stood up to General Hagar. To Sue, there was something remarkably sexy about Reed when he was standing up to people. Reed wasn't a very outgoing individual. Sue knew that. Sue also knew that the old Reed would have just let people walk all over him and not do anything about it. She was glad that the Reed before her now was taking the advice she had given him a little over two years ago to 'take charge'.

"Very well. Apparently we are done here then. I must say though that it is rather unfortunate that four superheroes are unwilling to put their lives on the line to possibly save countless others. I truly expected more from the four of you," Frankie commented.

Frankie and her two soldier companions took leave of the Fantastic Four and showed themselves to the door. Reed, Ben, and Sue looked appalled by both Frankie's actions and what she was asking them to do. However, what they didn't notice was Johnny going after Frankie.

"Frankie, wait up." Johnny called out.

Frankie motioned for her companions to go on without her. Then, she turned on her heels to face Johnny. She was furious that the Fantastic Four didn't go along with the Army's plan. At the same time though, she wasn't sure what to make of Johnny's catching up with her.

"I knew you couldn't stay away from me," Johnny stated.

Frankie scoffed. "Oh my God! You are so—"

"Charming." Johnny said.

"Full of yourself! You know, you could have called me!" Frankie exclaimed.

"I didn't want to look desperate." Johnny remarked.

This was the first time Frankie and Johnny had seen each other since Reed and Sue got married in Japan. Johnny had asked Frankie to be his wedding date.

"I'm only going to say this once, so pay close attention Johnny. I _don't_ like you!" Frankie said jabbing her right index finger into Johnny's chest.

"Oh really? Then what was with your whole 'you could have called me!' statement?" Johnny asked making air quotes.

Frankie was at a momentary loss for words. She hated that Johnny was right. She _did_ say that. She racked her brain trying to come up with a good explanation, but she couldn't come up with one, so she just ignored the question entirely.

"Get over yourself! You're still the same guy you were when I first met you. You're still confident, reckless, irresponsible, self-obsessed, and bordering on narcissistic," Frankie stated.

"You know what's interesting though? I may be all those things, yet you're _still_ talking to me," Johnny said.

As if that was her cue, she turned her back on Johnny and started to walk away from him. 'Johnny can't be right, can he? I don't have feelings for him.' Frankie thought to herself. She soon felt his hand on her shoulder. She grabbed his arm and flipped him over causing him to land hard on his back. A satisfied smirk appeared on her face as she looked down at the bewildered expression on Johnny's face. She walked away from him quite pleased with herself.

"Hey kid, what are you doin' lyin' on the floor?" Ben asked.

Johnny quickly rose to his feet. Ben noticed that Johnny's cheeks were starting to turn crimson out of embarrassment. Johnny dusted himself off before responding to Ben's question.

"You remember how I told you that it was nice that you have someone?" Johnny inquired.

"Yeah," Ben replied.

"Well, I think I just found my someone," Johnny stated.

**To Be Continued…**

**This story takes place after Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. This is mainly based off the Fantastic Four movies, but a little bit is from the cartoon Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. In regards to Doom's back story, some of it is factual, but I also took some liberties of my own with other aspects of it. Anyways, I hope you'll take the time to leave a review. I gladly welcome any constructive criticism, but please don't flat out flame me. Thanks for reading. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Fantastic Four is the property of Marvel and 20****th**** Century Fox. I am not making any profit by writing this.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 2-More Guts than Brains_

"What? Johnny? No way!" Sue exclaimed.

Reed had a look of disbelief written on his face that was not unlike the one his wife wore upon hearing what Ben had said.

"I'm telling you Susie. Johnny has fallen head over heels for Frankie," Ben said.

"Ben, come on. This is **Johnny** we're talking about here. Quit joking around," Reed remarked.

The corners of Alicia's mouth pulled upwards in a smile. Though she was blind, her eyes shone with a genuine happiness. She thought back to her conversation with Johnny on the morning of Reed and Sue's fourth wedding attempt. _You can only fool yourself for so long Torch._

"I think we should be happy for him. After all, Reed has Sue, Ben has me, so why shouldn't Johnny have someone too? He deserves to be happy just as much as any of us do," Alicia stated.

"Yeah, but Johnny's my brother Alicia. I know him. He doesn't fall in love with the girls he dates. That's why he's dated so many," Sue commented.

The subject of their discussion just so happened to be absent from the living room where everyone else was. As a matter of fact, Ben hadn't seen Johnny ever since he found him lying on the floor over by the elevator. Ben was sure that if Johnny were in the room, he would be defending himself right about now—well either that, or denying everything.

"Where is Matchstick anyways?" Ben asked.

"I haven't seen him ever since Frankie briefed us about Victor," Reed answered.

Sue went into overprotective big sister mode as was evident by the worry etched in her facial features. Sue was concerned because that was over an hour ago, so surely someone had to have bumped into him since then, but if no one had, then something had to be wrong.

"I'm going to go look for him," Sue said.

"I'm sure he's fine Sue. He's probably just in his room," Reed stated reassuringly.

Sue wasn't the only one who had a bad feeling about the present situation. Ben had his own theory as to where Johnny was, but he hoped he was wrong. He decided to keep it to himself though for the time being because he was certain that Reed and Sue were not going to like his theory, **especially** Sue. Besides, Sue looked to be worried enough already, so it would be unnecessary to make her even more worried especially if his theory was inaccurate.

Soon, Reed, Ben, and Alicia heard Sue racing towards them. She was practically in a full on sprint. By the time she reached the living room, she was panting. She bent over, put her hands on her knees, and tried to catch her breath.

"Sue, is everything okay?" Reed asked.

"He's gone! Johnny's gone! He wasn't in his room. His uniform is missing. To top it off, I found **this** on top of his dresser," Sue replied holding up Johnny's earpiece communicator.

"Sue, I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for all of this. There's no need to panic," Reed stated.

Sue knew better than that. Now more than ever, Sue knew that something had to be wrong. She could feel it in her bones. _This isn't just some big coincidence. Johnny planned this. He left his communicator behind so we couldn't contact him and stop him from whatever he has in mind. What was he thinking?_

"I disagree. I think there's every reason to panic. I also think I know where he went," Ben said.

Six eyes were on Ben anxiously awaiting his explanation. Sue's worry must have been contagious because now everyone in the room looked worried. Even Reed looked concerned. The tension in the room was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. It seemed like ages before Ben elaborated.

"I suspect he went after Doom himself. It's just like Reed said—the Fantasticar doesn't have any weaponry, so Johnny probably figured he was the only one who could do anything to stop Doom. I also think Johnny went after Doom to try to impress Frankie. The kid obviously has feelings for her. I could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice," Ben said.

"Oh God! I can't believe this! My little brother is going to get himself killed, and for **her**? Ooh, I **knew** I didn't like her!" Sue exclaimed.

Reed could see the rage in his wife's eyes. It was a look that he had been on the receiving end on more than one occasion.

"There's no time to waste then. Let's move out," Reed ordered.

"Uh, Reed? How are we going to be able to help Johnny if the Fantasticar doesn't have any weapons?" Ben questioned.

"It may not have any weapons, but that's okay. **We'll** be the weapons," Reed responded.

As Reed and Sue headed off to board the Fantasticar, Ben stayed behind to bid his girlfriend farewell.

"Alicia, you should give Ernie a call, and get him to give you a ride home. I'd walk you home myself, but we have to go save Johnny," Ben stated.

Alicia wrapped her arms around Ben's neck, and gave him a kiss. The gesture sent a tingling sensation down Ben's spine.

"Be careful," Alicia said.

"Always," Ben replied.

Meanwhile, in a military base stationed in New York City, Captain Frankie Raye and the rest of the Army were keeping a close eye on Doom and his entourage. Something of interest showed up on the surveillance systems.

"Captain, there's something headed towards Doom at an incredible speed. I'd say its speed is comparable to that of a missile," a soldier said.

"An aircraft?" Frankie inquired hoping the Fantastic Four reconsidered.

"No ma'am," the soldier answered.

Frankie was perplexed. _If it's not an aircraft, then it can't be the Fantasticar, so that means it can't be the Fantastic Four. That doesn't make sense though. If it's not an aircraft, then what else is capable of traveling as fast as a missile? Oh no!_

Frankie brought up another visual that showed pictures that were taken by satellites. It was just as Frankie feared. It wasn't an aircraft headed towards Doom. It was the Human Torch.

"We need to get him some backup quick!" Frankie commanded.

"How? We're the Army not the Air Force!" the soldier replied.

"Then call the Air Force!" Frankie ordered.

The soldier went to carry out his captain's orders. In the meantime, Frankie's knees started shaking uncontrollably. She sat down in a chair hoping that would alleviate it, but it persisted. _Why am I so concerned about Johnny's safety? Isn't this what I wanted? No, I wanted the Fantastic Four to intercept Doom as a team. I never wanted Johnny to intercept Doom on his own. Ugh, why can't I get Johnny out of my mind?_

Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, Victor was surprised to see hovering in the sky before him his primary target—Johnny Storm. _What's this? He's alone. Can this day get any better?_

"Stop right there Doom!" Johnny shouted.

Doom let out a sinister laugh as the Doombots quickly surrounded Johnny. He had his co-pilot take over piloting the helicopter. The helicopter did a ninety degree turn, the side door opened, and Doom stood there staring down his adversary.

"How brave of you Johnny. However, you have more guts than brains. Take a look around you. It's 1 vs. 100. 101 if you count me. Do you honestly think you stand a chance?" Doom asked.

"I may be outnumbered. I may go down, but if I'm going down, I'm going down fighting!" Johnny exclaimed.

To prove his point, he launched a series of fireballs that knocked out of the sky three Doombots who made the mistake of getting too close to the Human Torch. The remaining Doombots weren't going to just sit there and wait to be destroyed, so they raised their gun arms and fired laser beams at Johnny. Johnny tried his best to avoid as many of the attacks as possible, but the attacks were coming from what seemed like every conceivable angle. Johnny toppled through the air after taking blow after blow.

The pain was excruciating. Johnny's uniform was ripped, torn, and shredded all over. After being hit, before he could get his wits about him, he was hit again. This cycle seemed to go on forever until the flames around his body were extinguished, and he felt himself plummeting towards the ocean depths beneath him. Doom wasn't through with Johnny yet though. His helicopter swooped down, and Doom grabbed a hold of Johnny's ankle before he even reached the water surface.

What Doom wasn't expecting though was that Johnny still had quite a bit of fight left in him as proven by the massive fireball that was hurled into Doom's face. Doom staggered back a few steps releasing his hold on Johnny. That was just what Johnny was hoping for too.

"Flame on!" Johnny said.

Just when Johnny got that exhilarating thrill from being airborne again, he felt a laser hit him in the back. As he dropped in elevation, he repositioned his body and responded in kind turning a fourth Doombot into a flaming piece of scrap metal. Johnny felt like he had just taken a rather nasty fall after unsuccessfully landing a freestyle motocross trick.

Johnny was no Reed Richards, but he knew that he was a sitting duck if he tried to take on all 96 remaining Doombots at once. Thus, he flew away from them in an effort to get the Doombots to spread out as well. Johnny soon noticed that he could fly faster than them, so he used that to his advantage, and was able to put some distance between them and him.

Johnny glanced over his shoulder to see one Doombot who had done a reasonable job keeping up with him. It was firing lasers at Johnny. Johnny veered to the left and right dodging its attacks. He then looped around so that he was the one doing the pursuing and blasted it with a fireball. He realized that he was in a rather precarious position. There was one Doombot coming at him from one side, and another coming at him from the other side. They fired at him, and at the last split second, Johnny took a nosedive, and the two Doombots took each other out.

Doom took a heat seeking missile out from its case. He locked onto his target—Johnny—and fired. A malicious grin appeared on his face as he watched the missile fly off ahead of him.

Johnny heard the missile before he saw it. Johnny frantically searched the top of the ocean for a barge, anything he could light on fire. Unfortunately, he was flying above open waters. He peeked over his shoulder and saw that the missile was gaining on him. He desperately tried to fly faster, but every muscle in his body ached. Johnny noticed that the Doombots were no longer chasing him. _Great. So much for using one of them as a shield._

The heat seeking missile inevitably collided with its intended target. The resulting explosion created a blinding light that forced Johnny to cover his eyes. If it weren't for his powers, the heat emitted by the explosion would be intolerable. Johnny felt pain like he had never experienced before. As he made his descent into the Atlantic Ocean, the last thing Johnny saw was at least a dozen fighter jets shoot down a dozen more Doombots.

At that moment, the scene turned into something you'd see in Star Wars. The Doombots' lasers streaked through the sky. The fighter jets returned fire in the form of missiles. A shower of wires and metal fell to the waters below as more and more Doombots were shot down. The first fighter jet was shot down, and its occupant ejected just in the nick of the time. As he was parachuting downwards, Doom took a sick pleasure in sending a stream of electricity at him that was just as lethal as the electric chair.

More Doombots began their freefall into the ocean below courtesy of missiles. The tail of a fighter jet was hit. That caused a rather unfortunate result. The fighter jet lost control and collided into a second fighter jet causing an enormous explosion that spelled doom for its occupants. Though the fighter jets were still outnumbered by nearly 5 to 1, the Air Force fought on.

The tide turned again when a handful of Doombots crashed into one of Sue's force fields. The Fantasticar had arrived and Reed, Sue, and Ben were ready to fight. The Fantasticar split up into three pods. Reed, Sue, and Ben each were now piloting their own pod.

"Where's Johnny? What did you do to my brother?" Sue screamed at Doom.

"You're too late! The kid put up a good fight, but the Fantastic Four is no more. Maybe you should call yourselves the Terrible Trio," Doom shouted back.

Sue gasped. _No! Oh God, please don't let it be true! Johnny can't be dead! I can't imagine my life without him in it. If only we had gotten here sooner. That does it! Doom's going down!_

Doom's helicopter slammed into one of Sue's force fields. The impact caused Doom and the pilot to fall from the helicopter. As Doom was falling, he siphoned off the electricity from the fighter jets causing them to lose power. Their occupants ejected and activated their parachutes. That left Reed, Sue, and Ben with the unenviable task of taking on some thirty Doombots.

Reed opened the hatch to his pod. He elongated his arm and entangled a Doombot. Then, he hurled the Doombot into a second one. Both Doombots short circuited and were no longer a threat. Reed maneuvered his pod swiftly avoiding the oncoming attacks from more Doombots.

Ben set his pod to auto-pilot. He opened the hatch, and stood on top of his pod. A triad of Doombots flew towards Ben, but Ben was ready for them. After evading their laser attacks, he wailed on them with his massive, rocky fists.

"This is taking too long! We need to get to Johnny!" Sue exclaimed.

What happened next was quite astonishing. The three pods turned invisible. The Doombots scanned the skies for any trace of the Fantastic Four, but saw nothing. Then, suddenly, they dropped like flies courtesy of Sue's force fields. Soon, Reed, Sue, and Ben were the only ones left standing. Once they were no longer in danger, the pods became visible again.

Ben searched the surface of the waters for any sign of the youngest member of their team. All he saw was seven humans floating in the ocean. _Come on kid! Where are you? Give us a sign so we know your location. Wait. What if you can't give a sign because you're—no, I can't think like that. Hang in there. We'll find you Johnny. I swear. _

**To Be Continued…**

**Okay, so just a little side note, this story doesn't have any OC's. If a character is named, then they exist in the Fantastic Four universe. If not, then he/she doesn't exist in the Fantastic Four universe, so keep that distinction in mind. Secondly, I know next to nothing about the armed services, so if the information in this chapter is inaccurate, please forgive me. This chapter was a pain to write because action sequences are not my forte. I hope I did at least a marginally good job. Oh yeah, and if you have any idea what category to put this story under, then by all means suggest away because right now I have this under the category general because I'm not sure what to classify it as. Finally, I'd like to give a huge thanks to the sims 2 rocks, alexandizzie4eva, impeccableblahs, Elektric Storm, deranged black kitten of doom, Pinkchick, Wand Maker Extraordinaire, and Spaztic Arwen for reviewing. I'd also live to thank Caitri, Elektric Storm, Magical Flying Blue And White Cat, Pinkchick, Spaztic Arwen, Wand Maker Extraordinaire, alexandizzie4eva, deranged black kitten of doom, dontmesswithYami, impeccableblahs, and shadowwolf919 for putting my story on your story alert list. To anyone else I may have missed, thank you as well. Let me know what you think by dropping me a review. If there's a particular quality of my writing that didn't quite work for you, let me know through constructive criticism ****not**** flaming. I appreciate you taking the time to read my story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Fantastic Four and all names, likenesses, etc. is the property of Marvel and 20****th**** Century Fox. I am not making any profit by writing this.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 3-Search in Vain_

In Latveria, Doom sought out Lucia von Bardas. Apparently, word had spread like wildfire that Victor had come ashore because everyone in Latveria was aware of it. Doom found Miss von Bardas in the warehouse in which Doombot construction takes place. He noticed that another two dozen Doombots had been created since he last left. Upon seeing Victor, Lucia was quickly at his side. She draped one of his arms over her shoulder, and wrapped her arms around his side to help him stay afoot as he looked to be having difficulty walking.

"My lord, are you okay?" Miss von Bardas asked concern evident in her voice and her eyes.

"Am I fine? Am I fine you ask?" Victor replied.

Lucia watched in horror as Dr. Doom sent wave after wave of electricity until all the Doombots were destroyed. _He's mad! What is he thinking destroying his own creations? _

"What are you doing?" Lucia inquired.

The next thing Lucia knew, Victor had shoved her roughly to the ground. As she sat on the ground with more than likely a bruised tailbone, she looked up at Victor and gazed into his cold, calculating eyes.

"What's this? Are you defying me Miss von Bardas?" Doom asked as a ball of electricity crackled in his right hand.

"No my lord," Lucia quickly answered suddenly fearful for her life.

Just as quickly as the ball of electricity had formed, it went away. Lucia saw the tension in Dr. Doom's body subside. She was relieved when the poised to attack look was no longer applicable to Victor's stance.

"Smart girl. Keep in mind Miss von Bardas that I put you in power, and I can just as easily take that power away from you. I am the ruler of Latveria **not** you. If you have a problem with that, then you will meet the same fate as those Doombots," Victor said pointing to the scraps of metal strewn about on the warehouse floor.

Victor offered Lucia his hand. She took it, and he helped pull her up to her feet. Lucia tried her best to mask the fear that she was feeling as a result of Dr. Doom's threat. She worried that she wasn't doing a good enough job of hiding said fear from Victor.

"These Doombots will not suffice. No, we will have to start from scratch. Changes are going to be made. Come Lucia, let's get to work," Victor commanded.

Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, the search for Johnny Storm continued. By this time, the Coast Guard, search and rescue teams, and volunteer divers all worked together trying to find the missing superhero. The Air Force survivors had already been rescued and taken to the nearest medical facility as a necessary precaution.

"I hate this waiting! Why haven't they found anything yet?" Sue asked.

"The distance that the Atlantic Ocean covers is expansive. These waters are very deep. After factoring in the changing tides, Johnny could in theory be anywhere in the Atlantic Ocean," Reed said.

"Why thank you dear. That made me feel loads better," Sue remarked sarcastically.

The Fantasticar was no longer three separate pods, but one cohesive unit. Throughout Reed and Sue's squabble, Ben's eyes were fixated on the ocean waters below him. He expected Johnny to pop up to the surface any moment now. At least that's what he hoped would happen.

"I'm just saying that the more time passes by, the less likely our chances of finding him," Reed stated.

"Tell me something I don't know!" Sue exclaimed.

The sun was starting to set, and that was of great concern for everyone involved in the search efforts. Hours had passed since Johnny had first fallen into the Atlantic Ocean. Without the sun's light, the search efforts would become considerably more difficult.

"That does it! I'm going in," Sue said.

"Sue, don't be ridiculous! You don't have the necessary equipment to conduct a proper search!" Reed countered.

"Who said I need equipment?" Sue replied.

Sue's pod separated from the rest of the Fantasticar. She lowered the pod to just above the surface of the water. The hatch to her pod opened, she climbed out of her pod, and dove into the water. Once submerged, she encased herself on all sides with a force field effectively creating a sort of bubble.

"I'd be in the waters searching for the kid too if it wasn't for my body mass index. Thanks to that, I can't swim, I sink," Ben commented.

Reed and Ben observed with great interest as the Coast Guard discovered a body. _I hope it's Johnny. Please let it be Johnny._ Getting a closer look, they were disappointed when they didn't see Johnny's uniform. It was one of the deceased Air Force pilots.

Meanwhile, in Latveria, thanks to the joint efforts of Victor and Lucia, nearly ten new and improved Doombots had been created. The construction of another batch of Doombots was well under way. They were at the stage of production where the machines did all the work.

"Miss von Bardas, there is something I want to show you," Victor said.

Lucia followed Victor as he led her to the back of the warehouse. Victor opened a hatch in the floor that led to an underground tunnel. It was by no means a narrow tunnel either. A seven foot tall individual could safely stand on his tiptoes and not even be able to touch the top. The underground tunnel eventually led to a room. Lucia covered her mouth with her hand after letting out a gasp. Shackled against the far wall was the Human Torch.

"Is he—" Lucia started to ask.

"Alive? Regrettably," Victor replied.

"I don't understand. You **saved** him?" Lucia questioned.

"I prefer to think of it as he is my prisoner of war," Victor stated.

Lucia walked over to Johnny and put two fingers to his neck. She found a very faint pulse. She took in the sight before her. Johnny was in bad shape, **very** bad shape. If not for him being shackled to the wall, he would no doubt be lying on the floor as there was absolutely no way he would be able to stand on his own. As it was, Johnny's body sagged forward and his head drooped. Lucia saw that the entire top half of Johnny's uniform was nonexistent. The lower half of his uniform was ripped, torn, and shredded in so many locations. There was a myriad of cuts and bruises all over Johnny's body. From the looks of it, Johnny's right leg appeared to be broken.

"He needs medical attention," Lucia said.

"On the contrary, he doesn't **need** anything! He's fine as is," Victor replied.

"He's just a kid Victor! I don't know the extent of his injuries, but he could die!" Lucia exclaimed.

Victor stalked over to Lucia, and backhand slapped her with such force that she went flying into one of the side walls. She fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

"Don't you **ever **take that tone of voice with me Miss von Bardas! Where's your respect? If you're concerned about him, then you can stay down here with him," Victor said to the unconscious Lucia.

Victor made his way out of the underground tunnel. He closed the hatch in the floor and locked it shut. _I warned you my dear. Let this be a lesson to you. This is what happens to anyone who gets in my way._

All the while, the search for Johnny was still going on. Sue had finally resurfaced after being underwater for a long period of time. She was breathing heavily and was exhausted from exerting herself so much. While Sue was submerged, a second body had been recovered, but like the first one, it too wasn't Johnny. Sue climbed into her pod, and the Fantasticar was soon one whole again.

By now, the sun had gone down completely. In its place was the moon. Seemingly billions of twinkling stars also helped to light up the night sky.

"I think we should return to the Baxter Building. We can return first thing tomorrow morning," Reed said.

"I'm not leaving my brother behind!" Sue hollered.

"Reed's right Susie. Besides, just because we're going back to the Baxter Building doesn't mean the search will stop. The Coast Guard, search and rescue teams, and volunteer divers will still be looking for Johnny," Ben piped in.

"Okay, fine. First thing tomorrow morning though, we continue our search and no later," Sue stated.

The ride back to the Baxter Building was a silent one. Reed, Sue, and Ben were all deep in their own thoughts. Nobody really knew what to say. What could you say at a time like this? All they knew was that they really missed Johnny. They came to the conclusion that they kind of took it for granted that he'd always be around. Sure, he annoyed them to no ends at times, but they much rather he be there to annoy them than he not be there at all.

After arriving on the top floor of the Baxter Building, Reed, Ben, and Sue were surprised to see Frankie was there waiting for them. The mere sight of Frankie made the blood in Sue's veins boil. Before anyone even had a chance to say anything, Sue bowled Frankie over with one of her force fields.

"Sue, stop it!" Reed yelled grabbing his wife by the waist.

Sue was kicking, squirming, and clawing the air trying to free herself from her husband's grasp. Ben helped Reed to restrain Sue. Frankie picked herself off the ground.

"You are the last person I want to see right about now! It's **your **fault Johnny's missing in the first place! I pray to God that my brother is okay, and if he is, you had best stay away from him or else you will have to deal with me!" Sue screamed.

"If you think for one second that I don't feel guilty about what happened to Johnny, then you are sadly mistaken. If you want to talk about blame though, then I say all three of you can take a bow! After all, if the three of you had just backed Johnny up like a good team, then none of this would have happened," Frankie responded.

In a display of uncanny strength, Sue freed herself from Reed and Ben and tackled Frankie to the ground. The two ladies rolled on the floor jockeying for position. Reed quickly went to separate them, but Ben stopped him.

"I say let them go at it. At least maybe they'll get it out of their systems. Besides, you can't say that Frankie doesn't deserve it," Ben remarked.

After great struggle both on the part of Sue and on the part of Frankie, Sue ended up on top. She pinned Frankie's shoulders to the ground. Frankie squirmed beneath Sue, but Sue wasn't letting up.

"You have some nerve showing up here and saying what you said. What are you doing here anyways?" Sue demanded.

"I'm here for two reasons. First of all, I'm here to say I'm sorry. I never meant for Johnny to go off and fight Doom on his own. Secondly, I came here to tell you that Victor has Johnny," Frankie answered.

**To Be Continued…**

**I just wanted to say that I am completely floored by the response this story is getting. I'm used to getting maybe two to three reviews per chapter, so this is going better than I anticipated it would. I have a confession to make though—now I'm all nervous. I'm afraid that I'm going to drop the ball and suddenly people won't like it anymore (I hope I didn't just jinx myself there). I'm afraid that this story won't be able to live up to people's expectations or the promise that people have said this story has. I was going to list this under the category action only to find that action isn't one of the categories you can choose from. So, I decided to leave it under the category general because it does have elements of drama, romance, and action in it (maybe other genres) so I can't really confine it to only two categories. For all you fellow authors out there, could somebody explain to me what the Life column under Document Manager means? What, once the counter reads 0 days, I have to resubmit that chapter or something? **

**I'd like to thank the sims 2 rocks, impeccableblahs, SnowFox3, Spaztic Arwen, Pinkchick, Wand Maker Extraordinaire, LastWhiteRose, shadowwolf919, Jellybean16, and ElektricStorm for reviewing Chapter 2. I'd also like to thank Caitri, ElektricStorm, Jedi Master Calriel, Jellybean16, Magical Flying Blue And White Cat, Pinkchick, Raynne, Siyavash, SnowFox3, Sokorra Lewis, Spaztic Arwen, Wand Maker Extraordinaire, alexandizzie4eva, deranged black kitten of doom, dontmesswithYami, impeccableblahs, pembroker, and shadowwolf919 for putting this story on your story alert list. To anyone else I might have missed, I think you are just as awesome. A good way to let me know what you think of my story is by dropping me a review. I'm interested to hear what you thought of it. Constructive criticism is always welcomed, but I'm going to ask that you don't flame me. Thanks for taking the time to read this story. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Fantastic Four is the property of Marvel and 20****th**** Century Fox. I'm not making any profit by writing this.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 4-Not Out of the Woods Yet_

Lucia's eyelids fluttered open. As soon as she was conscious, she realized that she had a killer headache. _What happened? Where am I? Oh yeah. Victor slapped me. _ She rose to her feet, and saw that Johnny was still unconscious. _Johnny, what did Victor do to you? He's not going to like it, but I'm going to get you out of here._

She desperately searched the cabinets in the room for a first aid kit, something to eat, or something to drink, but only found that the cabinets were empty. _I can't believe it. Victor left us down here to die! We have to get out of here and the sooner the better._

Lucia walked over to Johnny, and tried to assess his condition. Make no mistake. She was a prime minister not a doctor. However, some things one didn't need to be a doctor to notice. _Oh God! Your wrists are in bad shape. I need to get you out of those shackles. How am I going to do that though? Victor has the key. _

Lucia contemplated how she could possibly free Johnny from his shackles. She knew that if Johnny was awake, he could probably just flame on and melt the shackles. That wasn't an option though considering how Johnny wasn't awake. A light bulb went off in Lucia's head. _I got it!_ She took out the bobby pin that was keeping her hair up in a ponytail. She proceeded to bend the bobby pin until it was practically an entirely straight piece of metal.

She proceeded to attempt to undo Johnny's shackles with the bobby pin just as one might pick a lock. Once she freed his right wrist, his right arm instantaneously fell to his side. The same thing happened as soon as his left wrist was freed. Johnny's body fell forward, but before he could hit the ground face first, Lucia caught him. She gently laid Johnny on the ground.

Now that Johnny was out of his shackles that just left the matter of getting out of there. _I'll be right back Johnny. I'm just going to see if we can get out of here._ Lucia left Johnny's side, and made her way to the only exit the underground tunnel had. Once there, she tried to push the hatch open only to find that it had been locked from the outside. _No! This can't be happening._

As she was making her way back to Johnny, she heard the hatch open. She excitedly ran back towards the exit. She discovered, however, that she and Johnny were no longer alone in the underground tunnel. Ten Doombots were now underground with them. Lucia backed away in fear as the Doombots advanced on her. Soon, Lucia found that she could back up no further as her back was against the wall.

"Uh, Johnny, now would be a **really **good time for you to wake up," Lucia said out loud.

4-4-4-4

Back at the Baxter Building, Reed, Sue, Ben, and Frankie were arguing with one another about what it is they should do first.

"We need to take the initiative. We can't allow Victor to regroup and build up his army. We have to take the fight to him," Frankie said.

"No, what we **have** to do is save Johnny!" Sue retorted.

"I'm with Susie. Savin' Matchstick should be our top priority," Ben stated.

Reed saw that all eyes were on him as he was the only individual who hadn't taken a side as of yet. Reed was thinking it through, but he soon realized that the more he thought about it, the more impatient Sue, Ben, and Frankie became.

"Well, Reed, what do **you** think we should do?" Sue asked.

"You all bring up some interesting points. After taking those into consideration, I think that the best strategical move we could make would be to find Doom first. More than likely, he is the only one who knows where Johnny is at, so we find Doom, we find Johnny," Reed answered.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sue said.

As Reed, Ben, and Sue headed towards the Fantasticar, they found that Frankie was following them. She soon was trapped in between two tightly placed invisible force fields.

"Where do you think **you're **going?" Sue asked.

"I'm coming with you," Frankie replied.

"No, you're not. You've already done enough as it is!" Sue remarked.

Sue looked to her husband to back her up on the matter.

"We could use all the help we can get," Reed said.

"Reed!" Sue exclaimed.

Reed held up his hands in defense. Ben inwardly chuckled. _Even as a married couple, Reed is still afraid of Susie. _

"I'm just saying," Reed said.

"Fine. You can come. I guess. Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you. Just because you are coming with us doesn't mean you are a part of the team. We are the Fantastic **Four**. You can't replace my brother. No one can," Sue stated.

"I have no intention of **replacing** him. I intend on **finding** him," Frankie responded.

4-4-4-4

"What are you doing? I helped create you!" Lucia shouted.

"Doom's word is law," one Doombot replied.

One of the Doombots grabbed hold of Lucia by her arms. She struggled, but it was to no avail. _The only way I'm going to make it out of here alive is if Johnny wakes up. Maybe if I yell loud enough, he'll hear me and wake up._

"No! Let go of me!" Lucia screamed.

The Doombot that had Lucia raised his gun arm. However, in the process, it released one of Lucia's arms. With Lucia's free arm, she grabbed hold of the Doombot's gun arm, and desperately tried to point it away from her. It was stronger than her though, and soon the Doombot's gun arm was pointed at Lucia's heart.

Lucia was surprised when the Doombot was shattered into a million pieces courtesy of one of Johnny's fireballs. Lucia looked over at her savior and gave a gracious smile. Johnny rose to his feet favoring his right leg all the while. The next thing she knew, he had flamed on, and was airborne.

"Johnny, no! Don't flame on! The Doombots have been programmed to neutralize your powers!" Lucia warned.

Her warning came a split second too late though.

"Target—the Human Torch. Weapon—extinguishing foam," one Doombot said.

Soon, Johnny was covered from head to toe in thick, green foam. He fell to the ground landing hard on his side.

"Johnny!" Lucia called out running to his side.

Lucia helped Johnny to his feet. Johnny clutched his ribs in pain. He clenched his teeth in an effort to mask the pain on his face.

"So, how am I supposed to beat them if I can't use my powers?" Johnny asked.

"You **can** use your powers. You just can't fly," Lucia responded.

The nine remaining Doombots approached Lucia and Johnny with their gun arms raised.

"Get down!" Johnny shouted shoving Lucia to the ground.

Lucia watched in horror as Johnny took all nine hits for her. He fell first to his knees and then face first on the ground.

"Johnny, no!" Lucia yelled.

4-4-4-4

"What does Vic want with the kid anyways?" Ben asked.

"I don't know. I really don't know, but I intend on finding out," Reed answered.

"How much longer until we reach Latveria?" Frankie questioned.

"E.T.A. is approximately one hour," Reed replied.

"I just hope we're not too late," Sue commented.

The morale of the team was at an all-time low. The Fantastic Four had been through so much together. Reed, Sue, and Ben couldn't bear the thought of not being able to share any more experiences with Johnny. It started to rain outside. The weather was a perfect match for their current mood.

Reed thought about how it hadn't even been that long since Johnny had become his brother-in-law. In a way, Johnny was everything that Reed wasn't. Reed would be lying if he said that he didn't miss Johnny's 'youthful, high spirits'.

Ben recalled how he used to be Johnny's C.O. He had taken Johnny under his wing, and tried to steer him in the right direction. Sure, Ben was tough on Johnny, but it was only because he saw the potential that Johnny had, and just wanted Johnny to live up to that potential. To Ben, Johnny was not only a close friend, but he was also almost like a son to him.

Frankie had finally come to terms with the fact that she had fallen for Johnny's charms. Most guys that Frankie met were too intimidated by her to date her. However, in the short span of time that Frankie had known Johnny, he had always expressed his interest in dating her through his blatant flirting with her. She was weary of Johnny as he was notorious for being quite the player, but Frankie wondered if she'd ever get the chance to date Johnny at all.

Sue remembered how Johnny had given her away at her wedding. He had also told her 'Dad would be proud'. After their parents died, Sue had practically raised Johnny on her own. She had taken on a sort of dual role as both older sister and mother to Johnny in the process. She noticed more than anyone that Johnny had become more of a team player. He had become more selfless as evident by his going after Doom in order to save innocent lives. Even if nobody else saw that as well, she was proud of her brother for his change in character.

4-4-4-4

Lucia soon heard someone else enter the underground tunnel, and she had a good idea who that someone was—Victor. Soon enough, there Victor was standing in front of her. She glanced to her side, and saw that Johnny was motionless.

"Victor, I beg you to stop this. He's been through enough!" Lucia pleaded.

"Miss von Bardas, you are either with me or against me. You've made it pretty clear that you are against me, and I do not take kindly to betrayal," Victor said.

"Oh God! What are you going to do to me?" Lucia asked.

"Not everything is about you Miss von Bardas. Who said I was going to do anything to **you**?" Victor inquired.

Victor lifted his hand and sent a steady stream of electricity at Johnny's prone figure. His body convulsed as a result of the continuous onslaught. Lucia attempted to stop Victor's attack, but a Doombot grabbed her around the waist preventing her from doing so.

After nearly a minute had passed, Victor stopped. He stalked over to Johnny, and repeatedly stomped on the back of Johnny's injured knee. Johnny had long since passed out from pain, and thus wasn't able to respond to Doom's attack.

"To think, if I had married Sue, you would be my brother-in-law," Victor said to an unconscious Johnny.

"You monster! You vowed that your reign would not be like your father's, yet you are just like him! Ziegfried ruled over us by instilling fear in us, and you are doing the exact same thing!" Lucia exclaimed.

Victor's hand was quickly around Lucia's throat strangling her. He hoisted her up in the air. Lucia desperately tried to pry Victor's hand off her throat, but it was no good. She kicked at him with her feet, but his hold remained firm. It was getting harder for her to breathe with each passing second.

"Consider yourself fired Miss von Bardas!" Victor yelled.

At that moment, the sound of something landing not too far from the warehouse was heard. Victor flung Lucia against a wall, and made his way out of the underground tunnel to see who his guests were though he had a hunch he knew who they were—the Fantastic Four.

**To Be Continued…**

**So I wanted to let you know that I take all constructive criticism I get seriously. As you see, I try my best to take your constructive criticism into consideration, and learn from it. In that sense, I'm kind of what you might call a work in progress. I love praise just as much as the next guy, but I'm a fledgling author (the first chapter of the first story I submitted was on March 5, 2007), so I know that I have to be making mistakes, and that my writing isn't perfect. That is why I really appreciate people pointing out my weaknesses. Watch, you all start getting nitpicky on me now. **

**I want to give a shout out to Jellybean16, the sims 2 rocks, Pinkchick, Spaztic Arwen, LastWhiteRose, sUnKiSsT, alexandizzie4eva, SnowFox3, shadowwolf919, TheSummoningDark, and Elektric Storm for reviewing Chapter 3. I would also like to give a huge thank you to the sims 2 rocks for putting this story on your favorite story list and for listing me as one of your favorite authors. You have no idea how flattered I am. To everyone who put my story on your story alert list, I want to thank you too. I'd thank you individually, but seeing how there are twenty of you, that could take awhile. Have any comments? Tell me in a review. No flames please. I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I hope you liked it. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Fantastic Four is the property of Marvel and 20****th**** Century Fox. Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes is the property of Marvel and Taffy Entertainment. I am not making any profit by writing this. **

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 5-I Wasn't Expecting That_

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the Terrible Trio. Oh, and what's this? Captain Raye as well? This should be fun," Victor remarked.

"Where's my brother? If you've hurt him, I swear to God you won't live to regret it!" Sue shouted.

"Of course I hurt him. What kind of a super-villain would I be if I didn't?" Doom replied.

"Enough talk. I say it's clobberin' time!" Ben exclaimed.

Their opposition just increased drastically as two dozen Doombots formed two lines behind Victor. Reed, Sue, Ben, and Frankie got into fighting stances. The Doombots raised their gun arms poised to strike.

"Great, more tin heads," Ben commented.

"Surely you didn't think you'd fight me **alone**," Dr. Doom stated.

Victor threw the first punch so to speak when he sent a streak of electricity at the woman at one point in time he thought he would spend the rest of his life with. Sue blocked it with a force field. Doom was relentless though as he continued with his attack. She started straining.

"Guys, I can't hold it!" Sue cried out.

Reed took the form of a giant tire, and rolled towards Victor. Some Doombots attempted to intercept Mr. Fantastic by firing their lasers at him. However, their attacks proved ineffective because of the velocity with which Reed was traveling. He rolled right over Doom stopping his attack in the process.

Ben charged forward with Doombots shooting at him all the while. He displayed remarkable agility for someone his size as he was able to evade their attacks.

"Target—the Thing. Weapon—kinetic-power absorbers," the handful of Doombots that were facing Ben said.

The Thing pounded on Doombot after Doombot with strong rights and lefts, but he wasn't even leaving a dent on them. He soon found himself flying backwards after taking five lasers to the chest.

Sue didn't even have any time to recover before she was getting shot at by about four Doombots. She threw up a force field right in the nick of time.

"Target—the Invisible Woman. Weapon—compression lasers," the Doombots said in robotic voices.

Sue quickly noticed that this attack was markedly different from the normal laser beams the Doombots used. This offensive move was comparable to a gatling gun. The Invisible Woman found herself struggling to keep her force field up. She already started developing a massive headache. The attacks kept coming. Her force field soon disappeared, and she collapsed to the ground out of exhaustion.

Three Doombots approached Frankie. She had her gun at the ready. The Doombots started firing lasers at her. Captain Raye did a diving somersault to avoid the attacks, and while in midair, put a bullet in the chest of one Doombot, shot a second one in the face, and hit a third one in the leg.

"Error. Cannot locate target," the blinded Doombot said.

Frankie watched amusedly as the blinded Doombot started shooting wildly. It wasn't long before it took out the two other Doombots with lasers thinking they were Captain Raye.

Reed looked around him. Ben was down. Sue was down. Four more Doombots were flying over towards Frankie. Victor and the rest of the Doombots had Mr. Fantastic surrounded. He elongated both of his arms, and spun around real fast. Five of the Doombots were sent careening through the air as a result.

"Target—Mr. Fantastic. Weapon—electric manacles," one of the remaining three Doombots said.

Soon, a restraint was on Reed that spanned from his knees to the bottom of his neck. He was unable to move his arms and legs. What's worse was that whenever he tried to use his powers, the manacles emitted an electric shock.

"Not good," Reed said.

4-4-4-4

Lucia had just regained consciousness. Finding that it was too difficult to stand, she crawled over to Johnny. She shook him trying to get him to wake up. His eyes didn't open, but she heard him let out a moan.

"Come on. Please get up," she said out loud.

Miss von Bardas didn't doubt that if Johnny didn't make it out of here alive, Victor would twist the story to make it look like she killed the Human Torch. For that matter, even if he did make it out alive, Doom would probably blame Lucia anyways.

She was relieved when she saw Mr. Storm's eyes open. His eyes looked to be glazed over, and he winced in pain practically every few seconds.

"Why are you helping me? Who are you?" Johnny asked.

"I'm helping you because unlike Victor, I have a heart. As for who I am, I'm Lucia von Bardas, prime minister—former prime minister of Latveria," she answered.

Johnny was glad that he could finally put a name to the face of the lady who was trying to keep him alive. A fierce pain emanated from his right leg. He cried out in pain and clutched his injured knee.

Lucia recalled how when she first saw that Doom had imprisoned the Human Torch, his right leg appeared to be broken. She also remembered how Victor had repeatedly stomped on the back of the young man's right knee. However badly his leg was injured before, that only had to aggravate the injury. When Victor left, he took the Doombots with him. _This might be the only chance we have to escape._

"Now that you're awake, I'm going to need you to come with me," Lucia said.

She helped him get to his feet. He had his arm around her shoulder, and she had hers wrapped around his waist helping to keep him upright. Together, they limped their way to the only way out of the underground tunnel. Lucia tried pushing the hatch open, but it was locked.

"Do you think you could melt that hatch?" she asked.

"Sure. Stand back," Johnny stated pain still evident on his face.

He shot a stream of fire from his hand, and in no time, the metal hatch was no more. The two of them climbed out of the tunnel only to find themselves face to face with ten Doombots.

4-4-4-4

Victor had destroyed the blinded Doombot with a blast of electricity before it could do any more harm. Doom and the remaining Doombots were closing in on Frankie.

"Tell me Frankie, why do you oppose me?" Dr. Doom asked.

"That's a stupid question! You're the bad guy!" Frankie exclaimed.

"Am I now? Are you sure about that?" Victor questioned.

Frankie found herself up against the window of a house. She was trapped. Dr. Doom and his robotic sentinels were inching their way towards her. Captain Raye looked in through the window of the house and saw a woman with a little baby boy in her arms sitting in a rocking chair by the window. She knocked on the window.

"Hey! Get away from the window!" Frankie instructed.

The mother looked at her briefly, but then turned her focus back to her baby. She remained in the rocking chair.

"You're wasting your time. She doesn't understand English," Doom stated.

Frankie saw that the Doombots had their gun arms raised. She didn't like her chances one bit. She only had **one** gun. _There's no way I can take out 16 Doombots __**and**__ Victor while they are firing at me. Besides, if I move, that mother and child in there are as good as dead. _

"I offer you three choices Captain Raye. Choice number one is to join me. Choice number two is you will be killed. Choice number three is we fire at you, you move out of the way, and that mother and child in there are goners. What will it be?" Dr. Doom asked.

"Frankie, don't listen to him!" Reed shouted.

"Silence Richards!" Victor exclaimed electrocuting Mr. Fantastic.

Frankie crept her way away from the window. _That way, if I dodge, the mother and child will be safe. _

"Nice try Captain, but no cigar. You see, now you only leave yourself with two options. Either you join me, or I kill that mother and child myself and you have to live with the guilt that you could have prevented it from happening," Doom explained.

"Are you mad? You'd do that to your own people?" Frankie inquired.

"Well then Ms. Raye, what will it be?" Victor asked ignoring her question.

4-4-4-4

Johnny emitted fire from his hand creating a sort of wall of fire that stopped the Doombots from advancing. However, what he didn't anticipate was that they would fly over it. _Great. Usually I'm the one who has the advantage of flight. If I flame on, they'll douse me with that foam of theirs._

"Stay behind me Lucia," the Human Torch said.

"Be careful," she replied.

The Doombots opened fire on him while airborne. He shot a rapid succession of fireballs out of both of his hands intercepting each attack. _How can I go on the offensive when I can barely even defend myself? Think Johnny think!_

He refrained from blocking in order to blast the ceiling instead. It was a bit of a tradeoff though, as he took ten laser shots in exchange. Some of them nicked him in the shoulder. Others hit him in the chest. Still others nailed him in his injured leg. Johnny soon found himself lying face first on the floor once again. In the meantime, the ceiling above the Doombots started to collapse on them. Rubble and debris caused them to short circuit.

"Johnny! Come on! Get up! You've survived this long! Don't die on me now!" Lucia screamed.

She was quickly at his side. She rolled him over onto his back. Lucia shook him, but Johnny was unresponsive.

Frankie walked into the warehouse alone. As soon as Miss von Bardas saw the United States Army uniform, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Miss, you have to help me. I can't get him to wake up!" Lucia exclaimed.

Captain Raye casually walked over to Miss von Bardas and the Human Torch. She aimed her gun at the former Latverian prime minister, and pulled the trigger. Lucia was lying on her side. Her eyelids were getting heavy. She felt herself fading away. Before she succumbed to darkness, she heard a second gunshot and saw that Frankie had shot Johnny in the chest.

**To Be Continued…**

**Okay, so a little side note, the Doombots being able to neutralize the Fantastic Four's powers I took directly from the current cartoon Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. Now in the cartoon, I noticed that the Doombots didn't have a specific weapon for Reed, so I took the liberty of making one up. Believe it or not, one of the hardest things for me to come up with is the title of each individual chapter. I want it to be creative and to capture the core of the chapter. Usually, it's the very last thing I write. Ugh. So this chapter had action scenes in it, which I still dread. I know there are better action writers out there, but I tried. Really I did. Maybe the action scenes turned out okay. I guess I really am my own worst critic. **

**While I appreciate you all commending me for being efficient when it comes to updating, I haven't always been so efficient. However, I am finding that people like my stories better when I update regularly. Of course those two could have no correlation whatsoever, but I digress. I'd like to give a huge thanks to the sims 2 rocks, Raynne, LastWhiteRose, Pinkchick, Jellybean16, Thuraya Known, shadowwolf919, Sokorra Lewis, SnowFox3, Spaztic Arwen, Elektric Storm, S. Winchester, sUnKiSsT, and TheSummoningDark for reviewing the last chapter. I'd like to especially thank Dizzy1013, LastWhiteRose, Raynne, S. Winchester, SnowFox3, and the sims 2 rocks for listing Wrath of Doom as one of their favorite stories. I really appreciate LastWhiteRose, SnowFox3, the sims 2 rocks, and anyone else who put me down as one of their favorite authors. I'd also like to thank anyone who put me on their author alert list or who put this story on their story alert list. I deeply appreciate all of your support. If you have any comments, feel free to express them in a review. I'd really like to know what you think of this story. If you have any constructive criticism to offer, I'm glad to hear it. No flames please. Thanks for your time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fantastic Four. Fantastic Four is the property of Marvel and 20****th**** Century Fox. Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes is the property of Taffy Entertainment and Marvel. I do not own that either. I am not making any profit by writing this.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 6-Twenty-first Century Benedict Arnold?_

Frankie sank to her knees once the reality of the events that had just transpired sunk in, which in actuality only took a fraction of a second. She was overcome with incomparable grief. Her gaze shifted back and forth between Lucia and Johnny as she surveyed the damage that she had caused with her own two hands.

Flashback (Frankie's POV)

I walked into the warehouse not really knowing what to expect. The only thing I was sure of was that Victor had ordered me to kill the Latverian prime minister and Johnny. I looked around me and took in my surroundings. A bunch of Doombots were buried beneath a pile of rubble and appeared to be dysfunctional. Then something grabbed my attention. On the ground no more than twenty feet away laid the man who I had started developing feelings for—Johnny Storm. Kneeling on the ground next to him was a woman who I could only guess was Lucia von Bardas, Latverian prime minister.

"Miss, you have to help me. I can't get him to wake up!" she said frantically.

I slowly walked over to their location while trying to appear nonchalant so as to not give away my intentions. I raised my gun, aimed it at her, and shot her in the sternum. The instant the bullet entered her body, she fell like a ton of bricks. She laid on her side dying with her eyes wide open in terror. I am a captain in the United States Army. I am a battle hardened soldier. I have been trained to kill people. This Latverian prime minister, I didn't know her. She meant nothing to me. Killing her was easy.

Johnny, on the other hand, I found I had a hard time even shooting. My hands trembled violently. My gun bobbled in the air as I attempted in vain to steady my aim. My intended target was the left side of his chest cavity right where his heart was. That ought to do the trick. I found that I couldn't bring myself to commit the act Doom wanted me to commit. However, due to the incessant shaking of my hands, I felt my finger closing around the trigger. With great resolve, I jerked the gun to the side. It was too little too late though. Much to my dismay, I still somehow managed to shoot Johnny—only instead of shooting him in the heart, the bullet entered the right side of his chest cavity.

I was horrified when I saw a crimson liquid start to seep out from the bullet wound. I did that to him. I shot Johnny.

End Flashback

Frankie desperately tried to calm herself down. Her eyes welled up with tears causing her vision to blur. She was trying to figure out what to do, but her thoughts were muddled. _I have to help Johnny! I can't just let him bleed to death while I sit here and do nothing! What about Victor though? If he comes back and finds the Human Torch still alive, it will be the end of me. What did I get myself into?_

She recalled that as she, Reed, Ben, and Sue were flying in the Fantasticar to the warehouse there was a hospital not too far away. It would probably be a fifteen minute walk. Thanks to Victor's financial contributions, Latveria was no longer a developing country. Now, it was a developed nation. Frankie focused on one and only one task—getting Johnny to a hospital. _Doom's not going to like this, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him._

4-4-4-4

When Reed, Sue, and Ben woke up, they found themselves in what appeared to be some sort of prison cell. The only difference was that this cell had no bars. In fact, it lacked a single entrance. Reed went over to one of the walls, and rapped his knuckles on it. He did the same thing to the floor. He stretched his arm out, and repeated the process on the ceiling.

"Fascinating. The ceiling, floor, and walls appear to be constructed out of some organic metallic alloy. Based on its texture, it seems to be stronger than titanium or carbon steel, and harder than diamonds. Now that I think on it, this is eerily reminiscent of the same material that the shields in Victor's space station were made of," Reed said.

"That is because the shields on my space station, and the walls, ceiling, and floor of the cell you are in are constructed of one and the same material," Doom explained.

The sound of their captor's voice caused the heart rates of the three to rapidly increase. They couldn't see Victor, but apparently the cell wasn't soundproof as Reed, Sue, and Ben could hear Victor just as easily as he could hear them.

Reed realized that Frankie was noticeably absent from the cell. He remembered how just before he lost consciousness, Victor was trying to get her to join him. _She didn't. She couldn't have. There is absolutely no way anyone in full control of their mental faculties would align themselves with Doom. _

"Where's Frankie?" Reed inquired.

"Oh, you mean my second in command?" Victor replied.

Reed, Sue, and Ben each had incredulous expressions etched on their facial features. Sue let out a soft gasp. Silence hung in the air. Doom enjoyed seeing three of his rivals look so betrayed. Victor held his head high, and had a certain air of confidence to him. He was quite proud of his handiwork.

"What did you do to her?" Reed asked.

Sue was perturbed by the fact that her husband was so concerned for the welfare of another woman. As far as Sue was concerned, if what Victor said was true, then she could care less what happened to Frankie. _Poor Johnny. Once he finds out that Captain Raye turned on us, he'll be crushed. How could she do that to him? _

"I haven't laid a finger on her. Ms. Raye joined me of her own volition," Doom responded.

If Reed, Sue, and Ben weren't shocked before, they were definitely shocked now. Frankie aligning herself with Victor due to mind control or something of that nature was one thing, but her willingly joining forces with Doom was inexcusable, and not at all what they expected of Frankie.

4-4-4-4

It took a great deal of effort, but Frankie managed to get Johnny to the nearest hospital. As soon as she entered the emergency room, and the medical personnel saw the battered, bloodied, and bruised body of the Human Torch, they had him on a stretcher, and were wheeling him off to the operating room. Everyone the world over knew who Johnny Storm, and for that matter the Fantastic Four, was.

Frankie attempted to follow Johnny, but a female nurse held her back. The nurse appeared to be asking Captain Raye some questions, but she was speaking in a foreign tongue—no doubt Latverian. Just as Frankie didn't speak Latverian, the nurse didn't speak English, so there was a language barrier between the two of them.

Upon arriving at the conclusion that it was pointless to talk to the nurse, Frankie took a seat in the waiting room. Though she didn't display any external signs of it, she was still quite shaken up by what happened. _I'll never forgive myself if Johnny doesn't pull through. I did the right thing though by bringing him here. This was the only way he would have a fighting chance of surviving. There's no telling what pain Doom would have inflicted on Johnny if I hadn't brought him here. There's no telling what Victor did to the Human Torch before I even got to Latveria in the first place. Johnny's a fighter though. He'll be okay. I just have to keep telling myself that. Johnny will be okay._

Frankie shuddered to think what Doom might do to her upon returning to the warehouse only to find one dead body instead of two. Her mind raced as she brainstormed possible explanations she could give Victor. _I could tell him that Johnny got away. Yeah, I could say that I gave it my best shot, but Johnny proved to be too much for me, and he escaped. I don't know if Doom would buy that though. I know. I could tell Victor that I killed Johnny and disposed of his body. No, that probably wouldn't work either. Dr. Doom would probably ask me for proof, and then I would be screwed. _

Her mind then drifted off to how the Fantastic Four would react to the news that she turned on them. _They'll probably hate me. They'll probably never trust me again. They don't understand though. It's not like I had much of a choice. I couldn't let Victor kill that woman and her child just because I refuse to join him. I wonder how Johnny will react. He'll probably want to have nothing to do with me anymore. I aligned myself with Doom to help Johnny though. At least this way, I can keep tabs on Johnny. At least this way, I'll know he's safe. At least this way, I can make sure that Victor doesn't hurt him. _

She then figured that she best be heading off to find Victor before he starts questioning her allegiance to him. After informing her of her mission to kill Lucia and Johnny, Doom told Frankie where he would be holding Reed, Sue, and Ben prisoner. She left the hospital, and headed off in that direction.

4-4-4-4

"You can't keep us here forever Victor," Sue commented.

"Watch me," Doom replied.

Reed was troubled by the fact that there were no ways out of the cell. He also noticed how there wasn't even any vents. _That means there is no way we can get fresh air. Given that humans inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, eventually there is going to be nothing but carbon dioxide in the air. Ultimately, we won't be able to breathe as a result of a depleted source of oxygen in the cell._

"Someone will rescue us," Reed stated.

"Really? Who? Frankie's on my side. Johnny's dead. Who's left to save you?" Victor asked.

The color drained from Sue's face upon hearing the words 'Johnny's dead'. Her skin complexion was as pale as a ghost. _No! Johnny can't be dead. He just can't be. How will I live without him? He's the only family I have left. Johnny means the world to me. It's not his time to die. He has so much life left to live. _

"Whaddya mean Johnny's dead? What did you do to the kid?" Ben questioned.

"It's not my fault the Human Torch is no longer in the world of the living. Frankie's the one who killed him," Victor responded.

The three imprisoned members of the Fantastic Four couldn't believe their ears. It was bad enough that Frankie had joined forces with Doom. To make matters worse, now apparently she took Johnny's life.

"Victor's lying. Captain Raye would never do that to Johnny. We shouldn't listen to a single word Doom has to say," Reed said.

"Why do you keep defending Frankie?" Sue asked with her hands on her hips.

"All I'm saying is that we shouldn't jump to any conclusions without having all the facts first. Victor has nothing to lose by lying to us, so why should we take his words at face value?" Reed replied.

"Reed's got a point, Susie. For all we know, Johnny could still be alive," Ben commented.

Sue took some time to gather her thoughts. She was usually the type to think before she acted or spoke. Of course she didn't think to the extent that Reed did. _Maybe I'm more like Johnny than I realized. I'm not usually the impulsive type, but if I'm not mistaken, I just said what was on my mind as soon as it came to mind, which is something I usually don't do._

"I'm bustin' us outta here!" Ben exclaimed.

The Thing pulled his fist back, and punched one of the walls. He was surprised when he noticed that the wall was still standing, and all he managed to do was dent it.

"A valiant effort Ben, but you're wasting your time. The only one who can break you out of that cell is Johnny, and oh that's right, he's dead," Victor said.

"Of course. The ceiling, floor, and walls are made of metal, and metal can be melted," Reed stated.

"Now it's time for your lesson. Chemistry 101—what happens when metal is introduced to electricity?" Victor asked.

Reed, Sue, and Ben didn't like the sound of that. They heard the all too familiar sound of crackling electricity. Victor was zapping their prison cell. The walls, ceiling, and floor of the cell conducted the electric current. Their bodies were soon racked with a searing pain. Sue quickly encased herself, Reed, and Ben in a force field bubble.

This became a test of her willpower. She knew she couldn't hold up her force fields forever. _At least it's better than being electrocuted._ Sue knew that she was only delaying the inevitable, but took comfort in the fact that she was doing everything in her power to protect the three of them in the here and now.

Her body started to become wobbly. Her arms lowered somewhat. Blood dripped from her nose. Sue started to develop a splitting headache. She had been working on lengthening the duration of time she could hold up a force field. However, putting up a force field for the sake of putting up a force field, and putting up a force field while under attack were two entirely different things. Her vision started to blur. Sue began to feel disoriented. She dropped her force fields, and fell backwards.

Reed and Ben tried to maneuver their way over to the unconscious Sue, but the pain was so intense that they were rooted in place. Pain was etched on their faces. They were convulsing and contorting due to the flow of electricity through their bodies. After three agonizingly long minutes, Reed couldn't take it anymore, and dropped to the ground unconscious. A mere two minutes later, Ben joined him.

**To Be Continued…**

**As you've probably noticed from the last chapter, I transitioned over to thanking my reviewers via review replies. That is what I will continue to do. If you don't get a review reply from me right away, don't fret. I'll get one out to you. On a personal note, based on how I've felt the past two days, I am either getting sick or already am sick. I actually had a draft of this chapter done last night, but decided that I didn't like it, so I scrapped it entirely. I hope you liked this chapter and that it answered some (if not all) of the questions a lot of you had regarding Frankie. **

**I've seen Transformers: The Movie twice already, and am considering writing a Transformers Movieverse fic. On the home page, it would be under the category 'Cartoon', and from there, it would be under the title 'Transformers/Beast Wars'. The only reason I'm bringing this up is because I was wondering if any of you would be interested in reading it. I also wanted to get your opinions on when I should write it. Should I wait until I finish my currently in-progress fics? Should I write it now? I put this in the Author's Note of one of my other stories, so if you've already responded, you don't need to a second time. **

**As always, if you have any comments, leave me a review. If you have any ideas as to how I can improve my writing, give me some constructive criticism. As long as you don't flame me—that is to say as long as your review doesn't just say what I did wrong—you won't offend me. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this story. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: See I don't know the previous six chapters.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 7-Time is of the Essence_

Frankie arrived at some undisclosed location in Latveria where Doom was holding Reed, Sue, and Ben captive only to find that nobody was there—no Victor and no Doombots. As for the three imprisoned members of the Fantastic Four, well Captain Raye wasn't certain whether they were dead or alive. Another thing she was unclear about was how much, if anything, they knew about the deal she made with the devil—Victor von Doom himself. _There's only one way to find out._

"Reed! Sue! Ben! Can you hear me? Are you guys all right in there?"

Ben's eyes shot open and despite the fact that he was more winded than his two other imprisoned teammates—due to his massive frame—he was on his feet in a heartbeat and was pounding relentlessly on the cell wall.

"You have some nerve showin' up here after what you've pulled! If I wasn't in this cell, I'd personally rearrange that pretty, little face of yours!"

Frankie's heart sank upon hearing the rage in Ben's voice. _I guess I got my answer. Well, part of it at least. I know that they know I joined forces with Victor. I somehow doubt they know __**why**__ though._ She wondered about the condition of Reed and Sue. The only individual Frankie heard was Ben. _Are Reed and Sue asleep? Unconscious? Dead?_ As she would soon find out, apparently the Thing wasn't the only one awake—Mr. Fantastic was too.

"Ben, you need to calm down. The more worked up you get, the faster your heart will beat; the faster your heart beats, the more breaths you take; the more breaths you take, the quicker our supply of oxygen gets exhausted; the quicker our supply of oxygen gets exhausted, the less oxygen remains for the rest of us."

"Calm down? Reed, she betrayed us! She betrayed Johnny! Or have you already forgotten about that?"

"I didn't betray Johnny."

The Thing scoffed. If the prison cell was transparent, Captain Raye would have seen that Ben rolled his eyes in response to her statement. At this time, Sue was getting her wits about her. Reed went over to his wife, and helped her to stand.

"Oh, and what Frankie, we're supposed ta believe you now?" Ben remarked.

"Whether you believe me or not is irrelevant. Whether you believe me or not doesn't change the fact that I speak the truth. I didn't betray Johnny. I saved him."

Sue's heart leapt for joy upon hearing Frankie say that she saved her brother. That morsel of information consumed her mind first and foremost to the point that she completely disregarded the fact that Captain Raye had turned on the Fantastic Four.

"He's alive? My brother's alive?"

"Yes. He's in a hospital as we speak."

"Susie, don't tell me that you actually believe a single word that comes out of this two-timin', backstabbin' liar's mouth!"

Reed threw up his hands in frustration. _I tried to warn Ben about not getting worked up, but does he listen to me? No! I thought I'm supposed to be the leader here! Sometimes he can be so stubborn! Maybe he and Johnny are more alike than either of them realize._

"Ben, if there's even the slightest chance that Johnny's alive, then I am willing to believe that—despite my feelings towards the source of the information—because it sure beats the alternative: thinking my brother is dead."

"What's his condition?" Reed inquired.

"I don't know his exact medical condition. From what I could tell, his right leg was broken, and he looked pretty beaten up. His uniform was in shambles. He had cuts and bruises all over his body. He also had a bul—never mind."

"A what?" Sue asked.

The only response was a dead silence—a silence that went on so long that Reed, Sue, and Ben started to wonder if Frankie was even still in the same wherever they were as them. They hadn't heard the sound of retreating footsteps, but then again Army captains aren't exactly lacking in stealth.

"It's not important." Frankie replied.

"I think it is! I need to know exactly what is wrong with my brother!"

"It's only going to make you three more upset with me than you already are. Besides, he's in the hospital being treated for all his injuries anyways, so it's not even a big deal."

"If it ain't a big deal, then why aren't ya tellin' us?" Ben piped in.

Again there was silence. Reed, Sue, and Ben were mentally going through the dictionary thinking of any word they could think of that started with "bul". Whatever it was, it **had** to be a big deal otherwise Frankie would have told them already. Then again, as far as Frankie was concerned, they weren't sure what to expect of her anymore. Sue's mouth was agape once she thought she figured out what Captain Raye was about to say earlier.

"You were going to say bullet wound or something to that effect, weren't you? Oh my God! You shot my brother!"

4-4-4-4

Doom was in the Doombot construction warehouse. He was looking for his second-in-command, but instead came across the deceased Lucia von Bardas. Much to his disappointment, that was the only dead human body in the warehouse. That only meant one thing—Frankie hadn't carried out his orders after all.

Victor also discovered the remains of ten offline Doombots. To him, that was a trifling matter. Doom found his Doombots to be no more than expendable resources. It's not like his robotic sentinels were sentient beings. Even if they were, the Doombots were nothing more than pawns to Victor in this game of chess. Pawns don't win games of chess.

Besides, what's ten Doombots destroyed when he can have ten more made in three to four hours? Ever since Reed attended M.I.T. with Victor, the two of them always had a sort of rivalry between them—albeit more so on Victor's part than on Reed's—but nevertheless the two of them each kind of had an anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better mindset. The two of them were fierce competitors in a game of one-upmanship. Mr. Fantastic was noted as being one of the greatest intellectual minds of the twenty-first century. However, Victor was equally as brilliant, yet he was overshadowed by Reed—he fell to the wayside.

With Doom's newest creation though, he didn't even need to personally see to the construction of the Doombots. As a matter of fact, thanks to his latest invention, he didn't really even need to be in Latveria anymore. Instead, he could fully devote his time to running his company, Von Doom Industries, in New York City. Also, with Lucia von Bardas out of the equation, and the Human Torch nowhere to be found, Victor would be needing a new—bargaining chip, and he had the perfect candidate in mind.

4-4-4-4

"I told you it would just make you more upset with me." Frankie commented.

"Course we're more upset with you now! First, you betray us. Then, we find out you shot Johnny! How'd ya think we'd react?" Ben replied.

"Will you let me explain? It's not as bad as it sounds!"

"Do tell. Our ears are burnin'."

Frankie was starting to regret even coming here in the first place. She had to keep reminding herself that she originally came here to find her boss not to confess her sins to Johnny's teammates. She was so tempted to just leave the three of them in their prison cell to die, but that wouldn't sit well with the Human Torch, so that wasn't even an option.

"I shot him, but it wasn't a mortal wound. I shot him in the right side of his chest."

"Right as in correct or right as in opposite of left?" Reed questioned.

"Is there a wrong way to shoot someone?" Sue remarked.

"Point taken."

"Oh, that makes us feel so much better—not!" Ben replied.

At that moment, Sue started to sway on her feet. Her world was spinning around her. There was a fierce pain coming from her chest. She started wheezing. Her vision started to become cloudy. One sound was indistinguishable from another. Reed and Ben looked on with great concern. Just as Sue's knees buckled, Reed stretched out his arms and caught her.

"Sue, are you okay? Come on! Stay with me. Don't you dare quit on me! Don't you dare leave me! We're going to make it out of here." Reed said.

"Oh no! You're running out of air, aren't you?" Frankie asked.

"Ya think? What tipped you off?" Ben retorted.

Captain Raye knew that the material that made up the prison cell was virtually indestructible. The only way to get Reed, Sue, and Ben out would be to melt the cell. The exact melting point of the organic, metallic alloy that the prison cell was constructed out of was an unknown quantity. However, it was safe to say that it was probably very high. Frankie knew that meant their best chance of escaping the prison cell alive was Johnny melting it with his powers. She made a beeline for the hospital.

4-4-4-4

As soon as Frankie entered the doors of the hospital, she began frantically shouting Johnny's name. The receptionist, alarmed by Captain Raye's behavior beckoned for hospital security. _If only I spoke Latverian. Why didn't I take more foreign language classes in school?_

"What room is the Human Torch in?" Frankie asked.

"Human Torch?" the receptionist responded.

Once the hospital security arrived, the receptionist dismissed them just as quickly. She didn't understand anything Frankie said other than "Human Torch". That was the same thing—even in Latverian. She took the captain's hand and led her down a hallway to Johnny's room.

The Human Torch had several bandages of various shapes and sizes all over his body. His ribs were taped up. He had a knee brace on his right leg. Frankie saw that he wasn't awake most likely due to the anesthesia he was given. She saw that the bullet wound had been stitched up. He had an IV in his arm. All things considered, he looked better than he did when she last saw him.

"Johnny, wake up! Please wake up! This is really urgent!" Frankie yelled.

She was relieved when she saw him crack his right eye open first. Immediately, he held his right arm up shielding his one open eye from the bright, nearly blinding white light. He then opened his left eye.

"Frankie, what happened? Where am I?" Johnny asked in a scarcely audible whisper.

"No time to explain. We have to go, now!"

"What?"

"I need you to make like a bird and fly. Your friends are in grave danger!"

Frankie disconnected Johnny from the machines, took out his IV, adhered a Band-Aid to his arm in its place, and helped him out of his hospital room. Mr. Storm could hardly even walk, but all she needed him to do was fly. When one nurse saw that the Human Torch was leaving well before he was even discharged, she sounded some sort of alarm and called for hospital security.

"They're in Victor's mansion. You'll know it when you see it. It's the only mansion in Latveria," Captain Raye told him.

"Flame on!"

Frankie watched as the Human Torch streaked off in the sky. She was following on foot, but he would no doubt beat her there. _I just hope he makes it in time. Hold on. What am I thinking? I care about Johnny's well being, but the others, not so much. Anyways, if Victor finds out that I've been secretly helping Johnny, I'll probably be electrocuted to death. I'm on Victor's side now. I'm on Victor's side now. Maybe if I keep repeating it to myself, I'll remember it._

4-4-4-4

When Johnny landed outside the front entrance to Victor's estate, his right knee almost gave out on him. He hobbled in the front door, and lo and behold, in the foyer was the prison cell. Mr. Storm was extremely tired. Sleep never sounded so good before. However, he had a job to do—a job which could very well be a matter of life and death.

"Hello? Can you hear me? It's Johnny!"

Johnny shot a stream of fire out of both his hands. The surface of the metal that his flames touched glowed a bright orange. However, no hole or anything was forming yet. _Maybe I'm not getting hot enough. Maybe I have to flame on. Maybe I have to supernova. No. I can't. That's too dangerous without Sue to contain the fire. Besides, that would just burn them all to a crisp. _

"Flame on!"

"Matchstick?"

"Pebbles!"

"Hurry it up will ya? Get us outta here!"

"I'm trying!"

Johnny's body was completely engulfed in flames. An ever so slight hole formed on the outer cell wall. It was only about the size of a dime. The Human Torch started to feel lightheaded. _No. I have to persevere. I will persevere._

"Ben, how are Reed and Sue?"

"Both are passed out. They're still alive though. It's really gettin' hard to breathe in here."

The hole in the wall was the size of a tennis ball now. It was gradually getting bigger, but it seemed as though it wasn't getting bigger fast enough. His flames hadn't even come close to penetrating the thick, prison cell wall though. Johnny's ribs were killing him. His right leg hurt like heck. Pretty much his entire body was somewhere along the spectrum of pain—from sore and aching on one extreme to mind-numbingly painful on the other extreme.

"Talk to me, Ben. Let me know you're still awake."

Ben fell to one knee. He gasped for air. His body yearned for oxygen, but there was hardly any left in the prison cell.

"Can't—breathe."

There was now a soccer ball-sized hole in the wall. However, he still couldn't see the inside of the cell, so the hole wasn't nearly deep enough. _This isn't working! I need to come up with another strategy and fast! _

While flamed on, Johnny started pounding on the wall with his fists. Granted, he packed nowhere near the punch that Ben did, but it was proving to be more effective than the stream of fire. The Human Torch threw rights and lefts like there was no tomorrow. His flamed fist slowly but surely broke through to the interior of the prison cell. He knew that he was just under going supernova, and he had been like that for quite some time now. Johnny flamed out. He fell forward, and Ben caught the younger man in his arms.

"I gotcha, kid. You done good."

Ben saw that Johnny was sound asleep more than likely due to exhaustion from exerting himself so much. The lungs of Ben, Reed, and Sue greedily took in the fresh supply of oxygen they weren't sure they'd ever get.

4-4-4-4

The doorbell to Alicia Masters' apartment rang. She used her walking cane to guide her to the front door. _Maybe that's Ben. Maybe he's back. Maybe they found Johnny._ She opened the front door excitedly.

"Ben, is that you?"

There was silence—second after second of complete silence. Alicia had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that something wasn't quite right here, but she couldn't put her finger on it. _Surely, if it were Ben, he would have said something by now. Wait a second. If it's not Ben, then who is it? _

She reached her left hand out to feel the body of whoever her visitor was. It definitely wasn't Ben. Instead of feeling the familiar stone of the Thing's torso, this felt like cold metal. _Doom._

"Hello. Alicia, is it? I don't believe we've met." Victor said.

**To Be Continued…**

**I would have updated sooner, but I've been sick since Thursday. When I get sick, I'm sick for a long time. It's not that I'm making excuses for myself—I prefer to think of it as a reason not an excuse for not updating sooner. I'm trying to be more liberal when it comes to my dialogue. That is to say that I'm trying to refrain from using "Reed said" and "Sue asked" and "Ben exclaimed", etc. so much. The dialogue is more realistic that way I think. I find that the longer my stories get, the harder it is to write updates that I feel satisfied with. **

**Oh, and for those of you who are interested, I decided that I am going to attempt writing a Transformers Movieverse story—just not yet. Maybe once at least one of my three current "In-Progress" fic's status changes to "Complete". So, basically, keep your eyes open for it in the future. That by no means equals me being done writing F4 fanfiction, so don't you worry. **

**Anyways, thanks for reading. I hope you'll take the time to leave a review as well. It doesn't even need to be long. Although while I'm on the subject, you probably have noticed that I do not accept anonymous reviews. That is because I want to look at the accounts of my reviewers, and maybe even check out some of their fics if they are fellow authors. I can't do that if you leave an anonymous review, and so that's why I don't accept anonymous reviews. Besides, logging in takes (depending on your typing speed) not even a half a minute, so just log in. If you aren't registered, register. Registering doesn't take long either. Plus, you don't even have to be an author yourself to have an account here. I've come across quite a few individuals who don't write fics just read them. I am grateful that you took the time to read my story. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fantastic Four or Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. The former is the property of Marvel and 20****th**** Century Fox. The latter is the property of Marvel and Taffy Entertainment. I also am not making any profit by writing this.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 8-Hurt_

Alicia took a few steps backwards. She was backing away more out of fear than anything else. While it was true that she and Victor had never been formally introduced, she knew exactly who he was. Everywhere around the world people knew that Dr. Doom was the nemesis of the Fantastic Four.

"I know who you are. You are Victor von Doom."

"That's Dr. Doom to you." 

"What do you want with me?"

"You really shouldn't be in such a place by yourself. There's no telling what might happen to you."

Victor's words sent a chill down Alicia's spine. Being blind, her other senses, particularly auditory, were heightened, but still she couldn't see him. That definitely could not be a good thing. She did the only thing she could think of—she held up her walking cane like a baseball bat ready to swing at Doom should he come too close. Victor let out a sinister laugh.

"You really don't expect **that** to stop me, do you?"

"Maybe not, but I'm not going without putting up a fight."

"Very well then. Just try and stop me."

Alicia desperately wished that Ben was here with her right now. She knew that he would protect her. A part of her wondered if she would ever be reunited with Ben again. She didn't like to think the worst, but what if something happened to Ben in Latveria, and he wasn't coming back?

Doom sent a stream of electricity that traveled down the metal walking cane and shocked its wielder. Alicia's body convulsed and she let out a pained scream before falling to the floor. Victor could tell she was still alive by the rapid rise and fall of her chest.

"I can't have you dying on me Alicia…yet. There is still a greater purpose you have left to serve before I'm done with you."

4-4-4-4

Back in Latveria, Frankie had just arrived at Victor's mansion. She saw that the prison cell had a decent sized hole in the side of it. Reed, Sue, and Johnny were all unconscious on the floor of the cell while Ben was sitting on the floor. _Johnny did it! He saved them! _

Ben saw Frankie, and at that instant, he got up and charged straight towards her. There were no walls separating them this time, and he would make her pay for her betrayal. He balled his massive hand into a fist and threw a punch straight at her head. She was much quicker than he was though, and was able to avoid the attack. Ben's offense was not over yet though, he threw punch after punch at her each one with seemingly increasing force.

"Ben, wait! Let me explain! I told Johnny where you were, and this is the thanks I get?"

"Oh yeah, and I'm supposed ta believe that, you traitor?"

Frankie ducked another punch, and this time Ben's fist got stuck in the wall. He was attempting to free it, but it was stuck. She knew this was her chance. She pulled out her gun and pointed it at Ben.

"I don't want to shoot you, but I will!"

"Don't make me laugh. Those bullets won't even faze me. They can't even penetrate my rocky exterior."

"Maybe, but if it gets you to believe me—"

"I used to believe you. I used to trust you. That ended up bein' the biggest mistake of my life. You said so yourself, you are on Doom's side now."

Frankie ignored Ben for the moment, and went over to Johnny and knelt beside him. She cradled his head in her lap. The corners of his mouth looked to be bent upwards in an ever so slight smile. Simply looking at Johnny made Frankie's resolve weaken. She knew he would be crushed once he found out she betrayed him, but she would never hurt him again.

"You stay away from him! You've already done enough!"

"It was an accident!"

"Right. You fired your gun, and the bullet **accidentally **hit Johnny. What do you take me for, a fool?"

"You weren't there, okay? It was an accident."

Ben finally managed to free his fist from the wall. He was halfway to clobberin' Frankie when he heard an all too familiar voice that belonged to a person he hated more than Frankie—Victor.

"So, I see you've escaped. Believe me; you should have stayed in the cell."

4-4-4-4

In his office at Von Doom Industries, Alicia was just now waking up. She was trying to remember what happened. Her memory was like snapshots that were disjointed. She remembered Victor being at the door. She remembered her holding up her walking cane to defend herself. Then, she woke up here—wherever here was. What happened in between was a blur to her.

"Ah, so you are awake. Welcome back Miss Masters."

"What do you want with me?"

"Patience, my dear. Everything shall be revealed in due time."

"Whatever you have planned, it won't work. The Fantastic Four will stop you."

Victor walked over to Alicia who was sitting in a chair tied up with rope. She was trying to squirm free, but it was no use. Doom was too smart to not tie his captive securely. Her ankles were also bound together with rope. Victor took in the figure of the woman before him. He could certainly see why Ben would be attracted to Alicia.

"I don't think so. You see I've analyzed every encounter I've had with the Fantastic Four, and I finally figured out why I had been losing so much. They outnumbered me. Well, not this time. This time I have many more resources at my disposal."

Dr. Doom walked over to the window of his office. It was late at night in New York City. The building was completely empty save for him and Alicia. He stared off into the black night sky. There was what looked to be a meteor falling through the Earth's atmosphere.

"I know you can't see that, but that meteor streaking through the sky isn't a meteor. It's a spaceship. Like I said, I have many more resources at my disposal this time. The occupants of the spaceship are aliens. These aliens are from the Andromeda Galaxy. They are called Skrulls. They are green-skinned reptilian humanoids that are excellent shape shifters. They have the same conquer-and-destroy vision that I have. I told them that if they align themselves with me, this planet is theirs for the taking."

Alicia didn't like what she was hearing one bit. She wasn't too sure that she could trust what Victor was saying to her. However, if he was being truthful, then Victor would be practically unstoppable.

"This doesn't make any sense! How were you able to communicate with aliens in the first place?"

"There's a lot about me that you don't know Alicia. I'm the face of a billion dollar company, and some of my…projects are top-secret."

If ever there was a time that Alicia wished Ben and the rest of the Fantastic Four would return, it was now. There was a storm coming, and New York City was in the eye of the storm.

4-4-4-4

The Thing tackled Doom to the ground, and from a mounted position, hit a series of strong rights and lefts that nailed Victor square on the jaw. Ben couldn't shake the feeling that this seemed too…easy.

"C'mon tin man! Fight back!"

What Ben wasn't expecting was that Victor was accompanied by a small group of Doombots. He found that out when he was thrown off of Doom by a series of laser shots. The Thing rose to his feet. In front of him were eight Doombots and Victor, and behind him was Frankie. Reed, Sue, and Johnny weren't awake yet.

"Not good."

"Target—the Thing. Weapon—kinetic-power absorbers."

Ben let out a battle cry and headed straight for the Doombots. He threw punch after punch, but they proved ineffective. _If at first you don't succeed, improvise._ Ben grabbed one Doombot by the legs, swung it around like a shot put, and hurled it into another Doombot causing both to short circuit. _Two down, six to go._

Reed and Sue were just waking up. They saw Ben battling six Doombots and Victor. Sue didn't see that though. She saw Frankie. She got up and was about to make a beeline for her, when Reed grabbed her arm.

"Forget about her. Ben needs our help."

Sue sent a Doombot flying into the wall with one of her force fields. Reed tied himself around the gun arms of another Doombot preventing it from using its weapons.

"Target—Mr. Fantastic. Weapon—electric manacles."

"Not this time!" Sue exclaimed bowling over the Doombot with a force field.

"Target—the Invisible Woman. Weapon—compression lasers."

Sue threw up a defensive force field. The Doombots' compression lasers were specifically designed to neutralize her powers though, and Sue was desperately trying to keep up her force field.

"Ben, now. The Doombots have targeted Sue, which means they aren't targeting us, which means they can't neutralize our powers with their weapons."

Ben punched his way through the Doombots. Since he was not their target, his fists tore through them like a hot knife through butter. Reed squeezed his body tighter, and the Doombot he had entangled short circuited. Soon, the only threats that remained were Doom and Frankie.

"Hey Stretch, I don't think this is the real Doom. I was poundin' on him earlier and he wasn't even fightin' back."

"Freeze! I may not be able to hurt Ben by shooting him, but Reed and Sue are another story."

Reed, Sue, and Ben turned to see Frankie with her gun raised. If there was any doubt about where her loyalties lay, there was no longer any doubt. This just made her betrayal all the more real. After all, she **was **pointing a gun at them.

"Frankie, let's talk about this. You don't want to do this."

"Shut up, Reed! Let me make one thing crystal clear—the only person I will not hurt is Johnny, so don't try me!"

"Whatever, you liar! You **shot **my brother! If that's not hurting him, I don't know what is!"

"For the last time, it was an accident!"

Frankie pulled the trigger. The bullet flew towards Reed's head. It collided with one of Sue's force fields before it could do any damage. Reed breathed a sigh of relief. Once he heard the sound of a gunshot, he thought he was a goner. He flashed his wife a grateful smile.

"Face it Frankie, you are way out of your league here. You are no match for the three of us!"

"I don't care what you think, Sue!"

"I don't believe this! What are you doing?"

Frankie turned around to see that Johnny was awake. She could see the hurt look in his eyes. Her heart felt like it was in her throat. She didn't know how long he'd been awake, but he apparently had seen and heard enough to know that she betrayed him.

"Johnny, I'm so sorry. I had no choice. I had to join Doom. I did it to protect you. He would have killed you!"

"Not only did you shoot me, but you tried to shoot my brother-in-law! How could I be so stupid? I can't believe I ever fell for you!"

"Johnny, I—"

"Save it, Frankie. You're dead to me now."

If looks could kill, with the way Johnny was looking at her, Frankie would be pushing up daisies. His words stung. His voice was so cold when he said those words to her. She knew she was in way too far to turn back. There would be no do-over. She dug herself a hole, and she'd have to find her own way out of it.

"Flame on!"

The Human Torch darted past Captain Raye making brief contact with her left forearm, burning it in the process. Frankie immediately grabbed her left forearm with her right hand. She gritted her teeth as Johnny's flames burned through the sleeve of her shirt and licked her forearm. Frantically, she tried to pat out the flames and relieve some of the pain.

Mr. Storm had gone supernova, and was circling around Doom. Reed nodded his head. He knew what his brother-in-law had in mind.

"Sue, think you can contain it with your force field?"

Sue erected a force field containing the fire within. As time progressed, blood started to trickle down from her nostrils.

"Ben, quickly come with me. I need to find a garden hose or something to spray water."

Reed and Ben left out the front door of Victor's mansion, and soon Reed returned with a garden hose in hand.

Doom's clothes had already been burned off. His metallic body was starting to melt. Droplets of liquid metal trickled down Victor's torso. Even seeing this, Johnny kept the supernova up longer just to punish his captor that much more. His flames finally flickered out. He fell to the ground landing rather roughly on his injured knee. Johnny clenched his teeth and let out a cry of pain. He grabbed his injured knee with his hands.

Sue took down her force field. She dropped down to one knee due to the effort it took to hold up a force field that long.

"Ben, now!"

From outside in the front yard, Ben heard Reed's command, and turned the garden hose on. A jettison of water hit Doom full force. A strange thing happened. The instant the water touched Doom's body, his body started crackling with electricity almost like it were short circuiting.

"This doesn't make any sense though. Victor's not a robot, so what possible explanation could there be for his body short circuiting?" Reed asked.

Doom fell to the ground in a heap. A shower of sparks flew off of Victor's prone body. Reed threw a hand up to protect his face from the sparks. A holographic image of Dr. Doom appeared above the prone Doom's chest.

"Hello, Richards. What do you think of my robotic body double? Quite impressive, isn't it? Surely, you didn't think beating me would be that easy, did you? Unfortunately, I haven't been able to transfer my powers to my robotic body doubles. Captain Raye, it's nice to see you. The next time I see you, we're going to have to have a little chat about your inability to complete your mission. I have no toleration for failure. Oh, and Ben, I just wanted to let you know that in your absence, I will take **very** good care of Alicia."

The holograph dissipated after that. Ben balled his fists up thinking of all the horrible things that Doom could be doing to Alicia right about now. _Vic's gone way too far this time!_

"Ben, don't worry. We'll get Alicia back. Let's go. We need to get back to New York City A.S.A.P." Reed said patting his friend reassuringly on the shoulder.

"Wait. Can I come with you? I don't think I'm Victor's second-in-command anymore, and I'm going to need someone to protect me." Frankie stated.

"That's for Johnny to decide," Sue answered.

Four pairs of eyes were on Johnny. He turned his back on them—more specifically on Frankie.

"I told you. You're dead to me. Why don't you have your Army buddies come and pick you up?"

**To Be Continued…**

**Hehe, so I guess I should have told you that any pairings in my story are minor, and thus aren't the focus of the story. I am not a romance writer. Got it? If you want fluff and mushy stuff, then this is not the story for you. So, since I was sick and all, I am in the midst of playing catch-up because I'm in summer school, and I had to miss two days of class due to my sickness. That is a lot to miss considering how each session of summer school basically is 10 weeks of instruction crammed into six weeks of classes. **

**Ah, so the plot thickens. I'm basing all info on Skrulls based on the little that I've seen of them in the current cartoon series, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes ( I swear that wasn't a plug for the show!). I have no idea how long this story is going to be. I do not have a fixed length for it. Fear not though. I don't think this story will reach its end anytime in the immediate future. ** **I hope you'll read & review. No flames please. Thanks!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fantastic Four. That is the property of Marvel and 20****th**** Century Fox. I do not own Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes. That is the property of Marvel and Taffy Entertainment. I also am not making any profit by writing this.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 9-Something's amiss_

Upon arriving at New York City, the first thing Ben did was make a beeline for Alicia's house. He wasn't sure whether she would even be there in the first place, but there was no harm in checking. Besides, he didn't care if it seemed too convenient for her to be at her home. All Ben cared about was seeing his girlfriend and ensuring that she was okay. He had to get there by foot because the streets of New York City were far too narrow for the Fantasticar to maneuver in and out of. Plus, it wasn't like there were a lot of wide open spaces for the Fantasticar to land in.

Ben wasn't alone though. Reed, Sue, and Johnny were right there with him. They functioned at their best as a team, so they were not about to let Ben go after Alicia by himself. He was a man on a mission, and Reed and Sue were surprisingly having somewhat of a difficulty even keeping up with him. Johnny was flying overhead. No one spoke because nobody really knew what to say at a time like this.

When the Fantastic Four reached Alicia's house, Ben was shocked to find that the front door was unlocked. He opened the door, and the four of them proceeded further into her house. The Thing couldn't shake the feeling that this was a trap. The Fantastic Four were showing a bit more caution as they scanned the house for any sign of Alicia. As it turned out, they wouldn't need to look for long. Ben saw his girlfriend appear from the hallway. She ran towards him and threw herself into his arms.

"Oh Ben! Thank God you're back! I was so scared!"

"Alicia! How did you—I thought you—what happened?" The Thing asked.

Reed noticed that Alicia didn't have her walking cane. Also, based on the way she ran straight towards Ben, it was almost like she wasn't blind at all, but that didn't make any sense. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but Reed had a feeling that something wasn't quite right here.

"It was horrible. I was sitting here at home waiting for you to come back. Then, Victor showed up out of nowhere and tried to kidnap me!"

"Wait. **Tried** to kidnap you? What do you mean? I thought he did kidnap you?" Reed questioned.

"He did, but I managed to escape."

"Didn't you just say he tried to kidnap you? Now you said he did kidnap you. You're not making any sense." Sue commented.

"Look, does it even matter? All that matters is that I'm safe, right?" Alicia replied.

Ben wasn't really paying attention to what was being said. Something far more disturbing was on his mind. He had held Alicia in his arms time and time again, but there was something about the way she was clinging to him now that was a bit awkward.

4-4-4-4

From his office at Von Doom Industries, Victor and the real Alicia were watching the events unfold on the television monitor before them. The fake Alicia, who was in actuality a Skrull, had installed a hidden security camera so that Dr. Doom could keep tabs on what was happening. Doom had a satisfied smirk on his face.

"You won't get away with this! Ben will see right through your little trick. He will know that isn't me," Alicia stated.

Just like that, Victor's smirk disappeared. In its place was a look of annoyance and irritation. He glared at his prisoner as he stalked his way over to her never taking his eyes off her the whole time. Doom placed his hand on Alicia's bare shoulder. The feeling of cold metal on her skin sent chills up and down her spine, and not in a good way.

"Your faith in him is touching. It almost brings a tear to my eye. Almost, but not quite. At any rate, even if he figures out that the Alicia before him is not the real Alicia, your dear boyfriend won't know where to find you. Face it my dear, you're not going anywhere—ever."

"Ew, I am not your dear. I wouldn't be interested in you even if you were the last guy left on the planet."

Alicia's words struck a nerve with Victor. He thought back to a conversation that he had with Leonard while he, Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny were in quarantine at one of his medical facilities after the space station incident where the five of them first acquired their powers.

_Flashback_

_"Why Sue? You could have any other woman in the world?" Leonard asked._

_"That's why. Because I could have any other woman." Victor answered._

_End Flashback_

"What do you see in Ben Grimm anyways? What could he possibly have that I don't?"

"You're kidding, right? Ben is the kindest, sweetest, most caring guy I have ever met!"

"If you had the slightest idea of the things I have done for the people of my birth country, you would realize that I can be just as kind, sweet, and caring as the next guy."

"Right, and why should I believe anything that comes out of your mouth?"

Alicia didn't get an answer, but instead got smacked in the face. Due to Victor's metallic body, the blow was enough to knock her unconsciousness. Her head hung forward, her chair tipped over, and there was a thud as Alicia's head hit the cold floor beneath her.

4-4-4-4

"I don't feel safe here anymore. Victor could come after me again at any time. Could you take me to the Baxter Building?" Alicia asked.

"Hold on Ben! Something isn't right here. I don't think this even _is_ Alicia. She wasn't using her walking cane. She refuses to provide us with any details as to how she escaped Victor. Her story doesn't even add up." Reed remarked.

Alicia grabbed Ben by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Ben, don't listen to him. It's me, Alicia."

Sue, Johnny, Reed, and Alicia were anxiously looking at Ben seeing how he would react to the seeds of doubt that Mr. Fantastic had planted. The Thing looked to be seriously conflicted. No one was sure who he believed.

Ben grabbed one of Alicia's arms and twisted it behind her back. This action surprised everyone in the room, but no one more than Alicia herself.

"Ow! Ben, what are you doing?"

"Where's Alicia? The _real _Alicia?"

The fake Alicia transformed revealing her true identity—a Skrull. Ben now had a hold of the arm of a green-skinned, reptilian humanoid with large pointed ears and a corrugated chin. She detached a laser blaster from her belt, and blasted Ben in the face causing him to let go of her arm. Ben staggered back a few steps.

"Fascinating. We're face to face with not only an alien race, but an alien race that is capable of shape shifting. I can't believe this is an actual alien. I've always wanted to see one." Reed commented.

"Uh, Reed? How about we focus on taking it down instead of marveling at it?" Sue suggested.

Johnny melted the laser blaster with a well placed fireball. The Skrull was surprised that her laser blaster had been melted, but she didn't let that stop her as she transformed each of her arms into a blade. She focused her attention on the melter of her weapon, and started swinging her blade arms at him. The Human Torch managed to evade each of the Skrull's attacks.

"Back off!" Sue exclaimed knocking the Skrull over with a force field.

The Skrull realized that she was outnumbered, and so she ran out the front door. The Fantastic Four followed in pursuit. However, the Skrull had already transformed into a pedestrian and blended right in with the other pedestrians walking the streets of New York City at this time of night.

4-4-4-4

Victor was livid after observing the recent turn of events on the television monitor. He hadn't anticipated the Fantastic Four would discover that the Alicia was a fake so soon. That threw a wrench in his plans for sure. _So much for the element of surprise._ Doom had intended for the Fantastic Four, and more specifically Ben to believe the imposter Alicia. Then, when the imposter was alone with Ben, she would take him out.

His mood turned around for the better when he saw at least three dozen Doombots flying through the skies of New York City towards Von Doom Industries. _Between the Skrulls, the Doombots, and me, the Fantastic Four don't stand a chance._ The rest of the Skrulls were already amongst the human inhabitants of New York City. Some were even in the Baxter Building. Most had taken the form of a human civilian. However, some had taken the shape of inorganic things like lamps, tables, trash cans, chairs, rugs, and things of that nature.

As far as Doom knew, the Fantastic Four believed that the Skrulls could only take the form of other human beings. That could work out to his advantage because that meant they wouldn't expect Skrulls to be inorganic objects. _Maybe there is hope for an element of surprise after all._

He looked over at Alicia. She was still unconscious. Victor did find Alicia to be an attractive woman, but she was not his type. He was more of the kind of guy who enjoyed the thrill of the chase. He liked going after females who didn't like him back. The way he saw it, there was no fun going after ladies who wanted him. That's why Victor was so enthralled with Sue. He knew she didn't have those kinds of feelings toward him. She was the one woman he could not have especially now that she was married to Reed. However, if anything, that just made Victor want Sue even more.

Doom wasn't holding Sue captive though. He was holding Alicia captive. She had made it quite clear that she was not interested in him. That was precisely what Victor had hoped she would say. Given that he actually had feelings toward Sue, Doom much rather have Sue as prisoner instead of Alicia, but Miss Masters would have to suffice for now. He could easily kill Alicia in a heartbeat, but she served a much greater purpose alive than dead. Besides, if there was one weakness The Thing had, it was none other than Alicia. Victor reckoned Ben would go to any length to save Alicia, and so she needed to be kept alive.

4-4-4-4

The Fantastic Four were having an impromptu meeting to devise a game plan, but were disagreeing about what their first course of action should be. Well, at least Reed and Ben were disagreeing with each other.

"We have to find that alien. I suggest we split up. That way we'll be able to cover more ground," Reed said.

"No! What we _need_ to do is find Alicia! There's no tellin' what Vic would do to her or for that matter what he's already done to her. The longer we wait, the more time we give him to do sumthin' to her! Also, the longer we wait, the more likely it becomes that I will lose her, and I am _not_ about to lose her!" Ben retorted.

"I'm with Ben on this one. Besides, the alien is a shape shifter. Trying to find her is like trying to find a needle in a haystack," Sue commented.

Reed was somewhat put off that his wife didn't side with him. The four of them were superheroes. They shouldn't let their personal feelings interfere with their job. _I guess if it was Sue that was missing instead of Alicia, I would feel the exact same way Ben is feeling._

"Okay, we'll look for Alicia then, but with no leads, trying to find her is like trying to find a needle in a haystack as well," Reed stated.

"Well, you can't find anything if you don't look in the first place," Ben responded.

"Everyone make sure that you earpiece communicators are on so we can contact one another. Johnny, fly back to the Baxter Building to get yours before beginning your search." Reed instructed.

The Fantastic Four split up. Reed, Sue, and Ben headed in different directions. Johnny flamed on and flew towards the Baxter Building.

As soon as the Human Torch entered the Baxter Building, he was greeted by the mailman, Willie.

"Good evening Mr. Storm."

"Hey Willie."

Johnny got into the elevator, and the doors closed behind him. Then and only then did he start to become suspicious about seeing Willie at this time of evening. _Wait, what is Willie doing here? I thought he delivers the mail during the afternoon? Let's see, I could either go back down and question him or I could just go and get my communicator like Reed told me to do. Decisions, decisions. I should probably just go and get my communicator. I don't think Pebbles will think too highly of me if I was chatting with the mailman instead of searching for Alicia._

In the meantime, Willie reached into his messenger bag that was draped over his shoulder and pulled out a walkie talkie. He turned it on, and held it up to his mouth.

"Victor, the Human Torch is in the Baxter Building."

"Excellent! You know what to do—eliminate him," came Doom's reply.

**TBC…**

**Sorry for the wait. I hope it was worth it. I have my reasons, but I won't bore you with them. Cough, cough. Summer school. Cough, cough. Finals. Anyways, please R&R. No flames please. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Fantastic Four is the property of 20****th**** Century Fox and Marvel. I am not making any profit by writing this.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 10-Things Aren't What They Seem_

Johnny went to his bedroom at the Baxter Building and grabbed his earpiece communicator—or at least what he _thought_ was his earpiece communicator. He barely made it out of his room when it transformed into a Skrull. The alien pointed a laser blaster at the Human Torch's chest. Mr. Storm had a fireball conjured up ready to hurl at the Skrull. It was like one of those old Western movies waiting to see who would strike first. The Skrull fired first. Johnny dove to the ground shooting his fireball in midair. The alien fell flat on its back (he couldn't tell if it was male or female) after being floored by the fireball.

"Great! If _that _wasn't my communicator, then _where is it_?" the Human Torch said while rummaging through the contents of his dresser.

He heard the all too familiar ding of the elevator door opening. Mr. Storm expected it to be one or all of his teammates. He could just picture his sister scolding him for taking so long to get his communicator. Johnny went out to greet whomever just got off the elevator, and was surprised to find it wasn't Reed, Sue, or Ben—it was Lucia.

"Lucia? You're alive? But how? I thought you were dead!"

"There's no time to explain. To make a long story short, Victor is after me. Come on. We have to get out of here."

"Wait. I have to find my communicator first."

"There's no time! They're everywhere." 

"Who?" 

"The Skrulls."

Unbeknownst to Johnny, Miss von Bardas was dead. The Lucia standing beside him was an imposter. The Lucia standing beside him was a Skrull.

4-4-4-4

"Reed, have you heard anything from my brother yet?" Sue asked contacting Reed through her communicator.

"No. You?"

"Nothing. I'm starting to get worried. Maybe we should head to the Baxter Building and make sure he's okay."

Mr. Fantastic thought how Ben would react to the idea of them looking for Johnny instead of Alicia. The Thing probably wouldn't be too thrilled to say the least.

"Never mind. I see him. Johnny!"

The Human Torch turned around and saw his sister running towards him. When she was close enough, she smacked the back of his head.

"What took you so long? Do you have any idea how worried I was? Wait a second. Where _is_ your communicator? Don't tell me you couldn't find it! See? That's why I'm always telling you to clean your room. That way you can actually _find_ things that you lose."

Through all of this, her brother was silent. That's when she noticed something that she hadn't before. Johnny didn't have a knee brace on his right leg. That could only mean one thing. This wasn't Johnny.

Sure enough the Skrull transformed into its alien form. Its left forearm was in the shape of a sword. Its right forearm was in the shape of a club. It swung its club at Sue. She put up a force field just in time. The Skrull continued its onslaught repeatedly pounding on the invisible force field. Sue gritted her teeth.

"Uh, Reed? I kind of have a situation here. Reed?"

4-4-4-4

Mr. Fantastic had his hands full too. He was walking down the streets of New York City when two lamp posts transformed into Skrulls and started attacking him.

The Skrulls were firing their laser blasters at him. Reed was weaving in and out effectively dodging their attacks.

"I'm kind of busy at the moment Sue." Reed said through his communicator.

He elongated his right arm, wrapped it around a stop sign, and threw it at one of the Skrulls. _One down, one to go._

The remaining Skrull kept on firing at Reed. Mr. Fantastic evaded all the laser beams and soon had himself wrapped around the Skrull squeezing the air out of it. Once he felt the Skrull's body go limp, he untangled himself. _Man, these Skrulls are everywhere!_

A Doombot had managed to sneak up behind Reed while he was distracted by the Skrull. The next thing Reed knew, he was rendered motionless due to the Doombot's electric manacles.

"Not again!"

4-4-4-4

The Thing was livid. He had overheard Sue and Reed's conversation earlier, specifically, that they were going to go look for Johnny rather than Alicia. He turned off his communicator, so that he wouldn't get any madder.

"Oh yeah! Sure, by all means go on a wild goose chase looking for Flame Boy. Never mind the fact that my girlfriend is missing too! Can't that kid stay out of trouble for five minutes?" Ben grumbled.

Ben was blaming himself for Alicia getting captured in the first place. _I'm her boyfriend. I should have been there for her. I should have protected her. If only we had got back from Latveria sooner, then maybe just maybe Alicia wouldn't be in this mess._

He didn't even want to think about how Victor kidnapped Alicia to begin with. _There's no tellin' what Vic might do to her. For that matter, there's no tellin' what Vic has already done to her. Poor Alicia. She's blind. She's defenseless. She's innocent. Vic's gonna rue the day he ever laid his hands on Alicia!_

Ben looked overhead and saw a Doombot flying through the night sky carrying a restrained Reed. _Great, now Vic's got Reed too! Could this get any worse?_

A half a dozen Doombots landed a few feet away from the Thing. They had their gun arms raised and pointed at Ben.

"I had to ask."

4-4-4-4

Johnny and Lucia were in the lobby of the Baxter Building when Frankie came in through the entrance. Usually, Mr. Storm would be thrilled to see Captain Raye, but based on what he found out about her not too long ago, she was the last person he wanted to see.

"What are you doing here, Frankie?" Johnny asked.

"You're supposed to be dead." Frankie remarked.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You shot me. Don't remind me," the Human Torch replied.

"Not you. Her." Frankie responded.

Johnny looked to his left at Lucia. He was confused. _What does that traitor mean by that cryptic message? Wait, do I even want to know what she meant? _

"Johnny, that isn't Lucia. It can't be. I killed her. I got rid of her body." Captain Raye stated.

"Uh-huh. And I'm supposed to believe you after everything you've pulled? Lucia's helped me more than you have. That's for sure. Because of her _not_ you I managed to survive Doom's imprisonment."

Through all of this Lucia was silent—eerily silent. A tiny bit of suspicion crept into Mr. Storm's head. _Maybe Frankie is telling the truth after all. Wait. What am I thinking? That's exactly what she wants me to think. Why should I believe her though? She tried to shoot Reed. She shot me. _

"You _have _to believe me, Johnny! That _isn't_ Lucia!

Lucia revealed her true self—a Skrull—and with its club forearm struck the back of the Human Torch's right knee. The knee brace didn't offer much protection, and his knee buckled. He lay on the floor clutching his knee in pain.

Frankie took out her gun and put a bullet in the chest of the Skrull as soon as her suspicions were confirmed. She was instantly at Johnny's side checking on him.

"Oh God! Johnny, are you okay? Please be okay!"

Realization started to sink in for Mr. Storm. _Frankie was telling the truth after all. Then that means that she really did kill Lucia! Oh my God! Who is she? I don't even feel like I know her anymore! Poor Lucia. All she wanted was to help me escape. _

"Stay away from me!" Johnny exclaimed while nursing his right knee.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you." Frankie said.

4-4-4-4

Meanwhile, in Victor's office at Von Doom Industries, Alicia saw a Doombot bring in Reed. She noticed that he was ensnared by electric manacles.

"Reed!" Alicia shouted.

"Alicia, are you okay?" Reed replied.

"I'm a little shaken up, but otherwise I'm all right."

"Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in." Doom remarked looking at his rival.

Things were looking up for Victor. He had Alicia. Now, he had Reed as well. Thanks to the electric manacles, Reed was helpless. _One down, three to go. One of those three is injured too. That knee brace Johnny's wearing makes for a nice bulls eye._

"You're not going to get away with this Doom!" Reed exclaimed.

"Watch me." Victor retorted.

"The others will come for us." Reed stated.

Victor laughed evilly. "Okay, go on and keep thinking that."

Reed was relieved to see that Alicia didn't appear to be hurt. He knew Ben would be relieved at that news as well. _Sue, Ben, Johnny, where are you? _

4-4-4-4

The Skrull kept on pounding mercilessly on Sue's force field. The Invisible Woman was well past the point of straining now. She was down on one knee. She had a splitting headache. Her eyes couldn't focus. She could've sworn that there were at least three Doombots in front of her instead of just one.

Sue couldn't help but feel she was weak. She couldn't help but feel that she was letting her teammates down—especially Ben. _What's the point of being able to create force fields, if I can't even hold them up that long? I hope the others are faring better than I am. I'm sorry Ben._

Her force field lowered, and the Invisible Woman fell to the ground unconscious. The Skrull scooped her up in its arms bridal style and headed towards Von Doom Industries.

4-4-4-4

"Target—the Thing. Weapon—kinetic-power absorbers."

Ben wailed on the Doombots with his fists not caring that he was outnumbered. Instead of the Doombots' faces, the Thing saw Victor von Doom's face. With the sheer force Ben was packing with each and every punch, a lesser being would have crumpled from the impact, but not the Doombots.

"If I can't use my brawn, then how else am I supposed to beat these tin heads? I don't exactly have any other powers!"

Ben thought back to when the Fantastic Four were battling Dr. Doom's robotic body double. It short circuited when it got wet, and it was a robot. These sentinels were obviously robots too. _It's worth a shot._

Ben diverted his attention from the Doombots to scan his surroundings for a fire hydrant. If only it were simple as that though. In the meantime, the Doombots were firing laser beams at the superhero. The Thing spotted a fire hydrant, and made a mad dash for it. He got nicked in each of his shoulders, in the back of both of his knees, and in the back a few times, but he wasn't about to let that stop him. He made it to the hydrant, kicked off the top, and adjusted the water stream so that it doused the Doombots. Sure enough, they short circuited, and soon no longer posed a threat. Ben turned his communicator back on.

"Sue? Johnny? Can anyone hear me?"

Ben was trying not to worry, but his teammates not responding couldn't be a good sign. _Last I heard, Sue was going to the Baxter Building to find Johnny. _With that, the Thing headed to the Baxter Building to search for his teammates knowing that there was a better chance of finding Alicia if they stuck together. After all, there was strength in numbers.

4-4-4-4

Johnny had reluctantly allowed Frankie to help him to his feet. She had an arm draped around his shoulder. She was supporting his weight as he was kind of leaning on her. Frankie didn't know what had convinced Johnny to allow her to help him, but she couldn't complain. He allowed her to help him, and that's all that mattered. She knew that the Fantastic Four didn't trust her after learning of her betrayal, and she couldn't blame them. However, her best shot of getting the team to trust her again was through Johnny. He didn't look at her the same since finding out about her betrayal, but Frankie could tell that something was still there. She felt it, and she liked to think that he felt it as well.

The Human Torch's knee was in excruciating pain. He was favoring his right leg, not daring to put any weight on it. He hated that he was practically leaning on Frankie for support. Although, admittedly, a part of him liked the fact that she was holding him. _Wait, no I can't think like that! Don't forget Johnny, she shot you! I don't know if I can ever trust her again! So what if she's drop dead gorgeous?_

Frankie was practically in heaven with Johnny so close to her. To say that she wasn't physically attracted to the Human Torch would be a lie. _What girl doesn't find Johnny sexy? Whoa, did I just say "sexy"?_ _Sure, he's still confident, reckless, irresponsible, self-obsessed bordering on narcissistic, but as I've come to realize, there's much more to him than that. He's also fiercely loyal. He would do anything for his teammates. He would do anything to stop evil. _

At that moment, Ben came through the revolving doors of the Baxter Building. As soon as he saw Frankie, he made a beeline for her. He drew back his fist poised to punch the traitor's face. To his surprise, and to Frankie's as well, Johnny stood in front of her protecting her from any harm Ben might inflict.

"Matchstick, get out of the way! I don't wanna hurt you. It's her I wanna hurt!"

"I can't do that, Pebbles."

"Why not? She—"

"Saved my life."

Ben was shocked beyond belief.

**To Be Continued…**

**I am REALLY sorry that I haven't updated in over a month. I was so swamped with summer school. Two weeks ago, I had to move out of the apartment I had been living in because my lease was up, so there was packing and a ton of cleaning to do. Summer school just ended this past week, and fall quarter doesn't start until September 27****th****. Now, that I no longer have to worry about reading, studying, homework, term papers, and schoolwork in general, I have time to update my fics. While I'm on summer break, you can expect updates every other day or about once every three or four days. I don't think I replied to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, so if I didn't send you an e-mail, thank you. Thanks to anyone who put my story on your favorite story list and/or story alert list. Thank you anyone who put me on your favorite author list or author alert list. Drop me a review and let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is fine, but no flames please. Thank you for reading this, and for your time. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Fantastic Four although I wish I did. Fantastic Four and all of its greatness is the property of Marvel and 20****th**** Century Fox. I also am not making any profit by writing this.**

**Wrath of Doom**

_Chapter 11-Separated_

"Whatcha talkin' about, Matchstick? She didn't save your life! She shot you! Remember?" Ben hollered with clenched fists at his side.

"Ben, believe me. I remember that Frankie shot me. Before you got here though, she saved my life," Johnny replied holding his ground.

The Thing could care less whether Frankie had in fact saved the Human Torch's life. Whether she did or didn't, she still shot him before. She betrayed the Fantastic Four. One good deed does not make up for that. Although, he had to admit that it wasn't everyday that Johnny called him 'Ben.' _Get out of the way flame boy! I can't trust her as far as I can throw her. I don't know what kind of mind games she's trying to pull, but I am not about to let her hurt you again, kid. _

"He's telling the truth!" Captain Raye exclaimed.

To prove that she wasn't a threat to Johnny, Frankie lowered and put away her gun. _Please believe me Ben! It's clear that we both care deeply about Johnny. I know I did a horrible thing in the past when I shot him and betrayed the four of you, but I will never hurt him again._

"Weaponless or not, let's get one thing straight—I don't trust you! No matter what you do, no matter what you say, I won't make the mistake of trusting you again regardless of how Johnny feels about you!" the Thing remarked.

Despite not putting any weight on his right leg, it gave out on Johnny nonetheless. He fell to the ground grabbing his injured knee in pain. Both Frankie and Ben were instantly at his side kneeling beside him. They saw him clench his fists and pound on the floor with them.

"Damn it! With my bad wheel, I feel so helpless!" the Human Torch screamed.

They both moved at the same time to help Johnny to his feet colliding with one another in the process. Ben and Frankie gave the other an 'I'll help Johnny' look, but neither of them backed down wanting them to be the one to help their comrade. Realizing that the other wasn't going to back away, they came to a compromise. Johnny had an arm draped around both Ben's shoulder and Frankie's shoulder as the two of them both helped him stand.

"C'mon kid. Let's go find your communicator," Ben said with a _Cuz there's no way in hell I'm leavin' you alone with her _left unsaid.

4-4-4-4

Reed gasped in horror when a Doombot brought his unconscious wife into Victor's office at Von Doom Industries. He could do nothing but watch as the Doombot put shackles around her wrists and ankles and shackled her to one of the four walls in Doom's office.

"What's going on?" Alicia asked her voice laced in fear.

"I'm afraid they got Sue too," Reed replied sadly.

Alicia had heard a noise of someone entering the office, but because of her handicap, she couldn't see who it was. She hated not knowing what was going on. She wasn't even sure if Victor was even still in the room. She didn't know where Ben was or even if he was okay, and that above all else was what worried Miss Masters the most.

"Sue! Wake up! Please wake up! Please be okay! You have to be okay!" Reed frantically shouted struggling against his manacles. However, that only resulted in them emitting a stream of electricity that shocked Mr. Fantastic. Reed's cries of agony echoed through the room.

Alicia squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her head trying not to hear the pain her friend was in. Try as she may, that was all she could hear. If she wasn't scared before, she definitely was now. _Ben, wherever you are, please hurry!_

Sue's eyes cracked open. She still felt a little bit dizzy. She quickly realized that she was chained to a wall. Looking at her surroundings, Sue gathered that she was in Victor's office at Von Doom Industries. _I could've sworn I heard Reed screaming out in pain. _Then she spotted her husband's prone, restrained form.

"Reed!" she yelled.

"Sue, thank goodness you're okay. I know it doesn't look like it now, but I promise you we'll get out of here." Reed said trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince his wife.

Sue had the utmost faith in Ben and Johnny, but she wondered if they even knew where she, Reed, and Alicia were at. Sue didn't know what Victor had in store for them, but she hoped that Ben and Johnny would get here before it was too late.

"Hey Reed, where's Victor?" Sue asked.

"I have no idea. He left about an hour before you got here." Reed replied.

4-4-4-4

In an abandoned house in a remote location, something filled the air with heart-wrenching screams of pain. A blinding, white light emanated from the house and then disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. The doors to a chamber opened and a figure peered in to see a slain occupant.

"Useless Skrulls!" Dr. Doom muttered to himself punting the corpse's face so hard that a loud snap was heard.

Victor had managed to recreate a machine not unlike the one Reed invented to change the Thing back into his human self. The machine relied on a contained cosmic storm. However, after countless attempts, the process was still a failure. The Skrulls didn't have any superpowers. They didn't even live through the cosmic storm exposure.

"Why isn't this working? Unlike Reed's sorry attempt at a machine, this one has ample power." Victor said.

He flung the dead weight of the Skrull over his shoulder, walked to a closet, opened, the door and threw the carcass on the ever-growing pile of Skrull carcasses. Each and every one of them had mouths gaping wide open and eyes still wide with terror. Some of their carcasses were bent at odd angles. Other carcasses had been burned right to the bone in several locations. The closet reeked of the smell of death and decay.

"There has to be some way to transfer superpowers to these pathetic Skrulls! The question is how? Once I figure out how, and I will figure out how, the Fantastic Four will be defeated by their very own powers!" Doom said pleased with the mere thought of that.

He got a briefcase and put it on a table before opening it. Inside, were four vials of a crimson liquid. Within these vials were blood samples taken from the Fantastic Four while they were under quarantine in one of Victor's medical facilities after the space station fiasco.

"If I can get a Skrull to accept the blood cells of the Fantastic Four as their own, then I will finally have succeeded in creating a Super Skrull." Dr. Doom stated.

After Victor was soundly defeated by Johnny with a little assist by Ben in Shanghai, he was inspired to create a being that had all four of the Fantastic Four's superpowers. Since he had an entire of army of Skrulls at his disposal, Victor thought they would make the perfect lab rats. Because this Skrull would have superpowers, Doom decided he would call such a Skrull a Super Skrull.

"You there! Get in the chamber now!" Victor ordered.

"Yes master," a Skrull had replied. It had a look of incomparable terror on its face after having watched numerous of his comrades be sacrificed by the mad Victor von Doom. The Skrull hoped he wouldn't meet the same fate as his comrades had.

4-4-4-4

After a half an hour search, Ben, Frankie, and Johnny had finally found the lost earpiece communicator. The Human Torch's room already looked a disaster area before they even begun their search, and now, it looked even worse if that was even possible.

"You know, we could have found your communicator much quicker if you actually cleaned your room every once in awhile!" Frankie remarked annoyed.

Johnny couldn't help but snicker. Captain Raye saw that even Ben had a trace of a smile on his rocky facial features.

"That sounds like something my sister would say," Johnny explained.

The thought of being anything like Sue made Frankie involuntarily shudder. It was no secret that Sue didn't care for Captain Raye. Thus, Frankie liked to think that she had nothing in common with Johnny's older sister.

"Susie, this is Ben. I'm with Matchstick. We finally found his earpiece communicator. Where are you?" the Thing asked speaking into his communicator. There was no answer.

"Hey sis, are you there? Do you copy?" Johnny inquired. Again, there was no response.

Ben saw Johnny try to put up a brave front, but he could tell that the Human Torch was worried about his sibling. Ben couldn't blame Johnny. Ben too was worried about Sue. He put a hand on his teammate's shoulder.

"Don't worry kid. We'll find your sister." Ben stated offering the younger male the best reassuring smile he could muster.

Once the three of them were in the lobby of the Baxter Building, they spotted a little six-year-old boy covered in dirt and cuts and bruises run through the revolving doors. He ran right up to Johnny and grabbed his hand.

"Mister Human Torch sir, you hafta help my mommy and daddy!" the boy said frantically.

The boy led them outside where they saw a smashed up car with a young man and woman trapped in the driver's seat and passenger's seat respectively.

"Flame on!"

4-4-4-4

The door to Victor's office opened and Doom stepped through only he was not alone. Following him was what at first glance looked like a Skrull. However, this Skrull had an elastic body and limbs, massive fists made of rock, and was engulfed in flames. In fact, the only thing that was Skrull-like in appearance was its head which still had the same green skin and corrugated chin of the other Skrulls.

"What the heck is that thing?" Sue shrieked.

"This is a Super Skrull." Doom answered.

"Incredible! This Skrull appears to have all of our superpowers except for yours Sue," Reed said before the Super Skrull vanished.

Suddenly Reed felt an intense heat encompass his body. However, as far as he could see, there wasn't anything remotely close to him. It wasn't long before the electric manacles restraining him were turned into a bubbling mess of scalding hot liquid. Reed felt his body elongate and he was unable to move. Reed screamed out in agony wishing desperately for the pain to cease.

"Reed!" Sue cried out tears stinging her eyes. She futilely struggled to break free from her shackles.

The Super Skrull turned visible again. It stood over the fallen Mr. Fantastic who had stopped screaming out in pain. It then did an about face and looked Sue right in the eyes. The Invisible Woman saw this and did the only thing she could think of—she turned herself invisible.

"Nice try, but that's not going to save you!" the Super Skrull exclaimed.

He walked over to the shackles and started pounding his fists on the area where Sue's head should be. After the first blow connected, Sue became visible once again. The sheer force from each blow knocked her head from side to side. Blood poured out of her nose. Sue didn't doubt that her nose was probably broken. There was a cut on her lip, and the Invisible Woman could taste the coppery taste of her own blood. The Super Skrull created a cut just above Sue's left eye. As blood seeped from the cut, it clouded her vision. After taking blow after blow to her right temple and the surrounding area, her right eye was soon swollen shut. The Super Skrull had strictly been using the Thing's powers against Sue. Soon, her head was slumped forward as was the rest of her body. Sue's world faded into darkness.

"So Susan, do you still think you made the right choice choosing Reed?" Doom asked.

4-4-4-4

"Frankie, you stay here with the boy. Ben and I will work on freeing his parents," Johnny said.

The Human Torch and the Thing made their way over to the wrecked car, which was about twenty feet away from the entrance into the Baxter Building. It looked as though the car crashed into a street lamp effectively smashing a good portion of the hood of the vehicle. Johnny tried to open the door on the driver's side, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's stuck!" the Human Torch reported.

"Not a problem. Stand back," the Thing commanded.

Johnny did as he was asked, and Ben ripped the driver's side door right off. With the door off, he got a better look at the condition of the vehicle's occupants. Both looked to be unconscious. The young man inside had blood running down his face from a gash on his forehead. The young woman's head was slumped forward.

"Johnny, could ya get him out of his seatbelt?" Ben asked stepping back to let his younger teammate in.

As Mr. Storm worked on the seatbelt he could hear the Thing furiously grumbling about 'stupid little buttons!' Johnny pushed on the button, but the young man still remained strapped in.

"What's going on? Are they all right? Is everything okay?" Frankie shouted.

The little boy looked up at her with an almost evil smile on his innocent looking face. It was creepy to say the least.

"I wouldn't worry about them. I would worry about you!" the boy said.

Captain Raye was caught off guard when the little boy revealed its true form—a Skrull. Before she could pull out her gun, the Skrull had blasted her in the chest with its laser blaster. Frankie flew backwards shattering the glass revolving doors of the Baxter Building.

Johnny had heard the sound of breaking glass and looked in Frankie's direction just in time to see her barreling through the revolving doors. He turned his attention away from the young man trapped in the car.

"Frankie!" Johnny screamed.

The young man in the driver's side transformed into a Skrull himself. His right limb was in the shape of a club. While the Human Torch's back was turned, the Skrull clubbed Johnny in the back of the head. He dropped to his knees, then was sprawled out face down on the street. The young woman on the passenger side revealed herself to be a Skrull too.

"This was a set up! Hang on Matchstick!" Ben exclaimed.

The Thing decked the male Skrull in the face before he could even fully get out of the car. The female Skrull had pulled out a laser blaster. Ben pulled the male Skrull in front of him just in time using him as a shield. He then shoved the male Skrull into the female Skrull. Both Skrulls fell out of the car with the male Skrull landing on top of the female Skrull trapping her underneath him. The Thing picked up the wrecked car and smashed it on top of the two of them. Ben fell to one knee after being blasted in the back by the Skrull child.

"Did you forget about me, big guy?" the Skrull asked.

"Come here you little brat!" Ben exclaimed.

As the Thing was about to make his way over to the Skrull youth, he heard a groan of pain come from his fallen teammate. Ben decided that Johnny needed him more, so he allowed the Skrull child to escape. Mr. Grimm rolled the Human Torch over so that he was on his back. The Thing noticed that Johnny's eyes were glazed over and they had a far away look in them. He was worried when his comrade's eyes started to close. Ben was no doctor, but he knew that after taking a blow to the back of his head, and from the distant look in his eyes, that Johnny was suffering from a concussion.

"Stay with me flame boy! I can't have you falling asleep on me now!" Ben said.

**To Be Continued…**

**I know it's been awhile since I've last updated, and I am SO sorry for that. I'm graduating from college this quarter, so I've been focusing on my academics so I hopefully WILL graduate this quarter. Not to mention that I've been sick twice this quarter alone—once with the flu, once with a bad stomach flu. At any rate, I hope you are still interested in this story. I have finals coming up not this week, but next week, so please bear with me if I don't update as often as you'd like me to. Lastly, thank you to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I don't know if I sent a review reply to each of you, so if I didn't, I'm thanking you now. Thanks to everyone who read, put this story on their favorite story list or story alert list. A big kudos to anyone who put me on their favorite author list or author alert list. It was all of the support that made me feel so guilty about not updating in awhile that I decided to update today.**


End file.
